Best way to separate solvent (decanting)?

[EnterTheVoid]

Hello fellow nexians!

I am following a tek where I have my MHRB mixture in a 1 gallon jug. It's a typical water jug.

Now all the teks I've read say to just pour the naphtha layer off the top - this step is harder than anything else for me. I can manage to pour about 60-75% of the naphtha off, but after that all I pour out is the sludge. I can still see the naphtha layer, and I can slowly get it out using an eye dropper... but that is slow and tedious work.

So I come to you asking the best way to separate my naphtha. Is it possible to pour off almost all of it?

Thanks :d

 

[Xt]

Double decanting works well... that is roughly scooping out the solvent into a smaller, taller vessel. Letting it settle then decanting from that.

Or with a glass baster, a glass syringe & steel luer lock needle,
or a small deep spoon, or a 2000ml Sep funnal.

 

[endlessness]

As he said ^

Also you can do the first decanting and then use a glass syringe (ideal) or glass pippette to separate the second time around.

Also check the FAQ

 

[Enoon]

pasteur pipettes are great for smaller pulls (up to 100ml) otherwise it gets tedious... But the shape of the vessel definitely can aid in the process of separating....
Here's a pic of some nice pipettes like the ones I use:

 

[endlessness]

Yeah those will def work for smaller volumes. Though the potential issue I see there is if you suck too much solvent and it reaches the rubber, possibly resulting in rubber/plastic traces in your product ?

I really think that glass syringes are best way to go for this style of separation (if you dont count separatory funnel) because they are all glass and there are larger volume ones, so even big pulls are fine and fast (and maybe have a small glass syringe or pipette for smaller volumes)

 

[Enoon]

Yeah those will def work for smaller volumes. Though the potential issue I see there is if you suck too much solvent and it reaches the rubber, possibly resulting in rubber/plastic traces in your product ?

I really think that glass syringes are best way to go for this style of separation (if you dont count separatory funnel) because they are all glass and there are larger volume ones, so even big pulls are fine and fast (and maybe have a small glass syringe or pipette for smaller volumes)

well you can easily test if your pipette is too small for the rubber ball. normally the pipette volume is a bit larger than the volume of the rubber ball so the scenario you just presented can't happen. If you're worried about it you can test it with water before you use solvents. But no chemist wants this to happen with their pipettes, so they are usually designed so that it doesn't happen...
IMO pipettes are much easier to use than syringes...

 

[damon]

I use a 25 mL glass pipette with a multi-valve bulb. You can get various sizes and a bulb for less than $20. And this wasn't mentioned, but you can squeeze the jug to keep the solvent in the neck as you draw it out.

 

[crystalizer]

Agree with damon, glass pipettes (20-100mL) and a pipettman (peleusball, pipettball whatsoever) are the best way. Decanting really sucks. As damon said, you get the stuff for under 20$.

Seperatory funnels are also a littel bit tricky depending on the solvent you use. For solvents like chcl3 it works nice, as your solvent would be the bottom layer and easy to remove... but using other solvenst leaves them floating on top, so first get the sludge out, then comes your solvent... as you want to do more pulls again sludge in, solvent in etc...from my experience that sucked, even when considering you can do an extra wash, as the solvent remains in the funnel and you just add some clean water...

 

[EnterTheVoid]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

I'll have to pick up a pipette I guess. Until then, I'll just continue what I've been doing.