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Are the rubber seals used in kilner clip top jars safe to use with Lye.

Migrated topic.
S

Shrugs

Rising Star
Is anyone else using kilner jars for extractions?

So far swim has been using wine bottles with screw tops but the volume is not ideal and neither is the internal diameter of the opening. Can only get smallest pipette in there and takes ages to get the solvent out and is just a bit of a faff in general.
Also some degradation of the seal has been noted.

In light of all the issues above swim has gone looking for a more suitable extraction vessel.

Ideally something that can take 2 litres.
Has a wide opening.
Preferably glass.
Cheap.
Widely available.

Swim has found some clip top kilner jars for a good price. Only reservation is the rubber seal.

This thread from a few years back covers some materials but not rubber as far as swim can see.


Interested to hear thoughts on this.
 
Just having a quick looks around, found this.

Rubber Chemical Resistance, Rubber Chemical Compatibility, Page 5 - Mykin Inc

This is page 5 of our chemical compatibility and resistance chart of all popular rubber or elastomer materials. Use this chart to make sure your rubber or O-ring seal material is compatible with your environment.
mykin.com mykin.com

And this from sodium hydroxide safety sheet.

Skin Protection: Wear chemical protective clothing e.g. gloves, aprons, boots. Suitable materials include: butyl rubber, natural rubber, neoprene rubber, nitrile rubber, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, Viton®, Viton®/butyl rubber, Barrier® (PE/PA/PE), Silver Shield/4H® (PE/EVAL/PE), Trellchem® HPS, Trellchem® VPS, Tychem® SL (Saranex™), Tychem® BR/LV, Tychem® Responder, Tychem® TK.

So most kinds of rubber look to be okay. Will probably chop up a couple of bits of the material do a little test with lye and naptha just to be sure but looks pretty safe from here.
Will report back.
 
Shrugs said:
Just having a quick looks around, found this.

Rubber Chemical Resistance, Rubber Chemical Compatibility, Page 5 - Mykin Inc
Click to expand...
You need to look longer, because you entirely missed the "paraffins" and various "petroleum" entries in that chart. Also notice that the chart doesn't even list compatibilities of natural rubber (isoprene), which is what you'll most likely find used in consumer applications such as kilner or mason jar rings. It does list synthetic rubber (neoprene) and butyl rubber, which are more durable than natural rubber, but still perform badly with mineral oils.

Based on the chart, the safest rubber products would be nitrile, fluorosilicone, viton and kalrez.

By the way, the chart only lists binary compatibilities. Ternary compatibilities (eg. lye + naphtha + rubber "X") are more complex and are not listed.
 
cider jugs are my go-to alembics.

The volume and diameter issues of which you speak are both addressed with these. They have a narrow (but big enough for a glass baster) neck that allows for easy nps removal.
 
Really glad you weighed in on this folks!

Was so focused on the lye swim honestly hadn't even considered naptha being a problem, even less the combination of the two. So the kilner jar is going to be used to keep tea bags dry now.

null24 thanks for the cider jug tip. They look perfect and can be had locally for 1 unit of currency more than the kilner jars. Plus you get 2litres of scrumpy cider free with every alembic! (lovely word btw)

Thanks again guys. Have your selves a top new years. Swim can see scrumpy cider playing a significant part in his.:d
 
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