Toluene as a NPS

[TheGreenPhantom]

So I've just read through every thread with "toluene" in its title. In the interest of compiling information, here's a list of pros and cons based on what's been said here as well as personal experience.

PROS:

• Extraction time is quicker compared with naphtha. You don't have to fuss with a heat bath, shake and let settle 5 times; pre-evap your pulls; put them in a freezer; carefully decant excess solvent; then finally dry out the goods out.

• You get a more full-spectrum extraction.

• It evaporates very quickly.
  • Some people have complained the opposite, however; this makes me wonder if they had a different product or formulation.
    • (I know, I know – we love to back-salt here, but why fuss when the stuff evaporates in under an hour with a fan on it?)

• It's almost as cheap as water and more readily available than other solvents where I'm from.

CONS:

• Can form a nasty emulsion if you shake it instead of gently "rolling" it around in your extraction vessel.
  • Emulsions can also be mitigated by putting your acidic soup in the 'fridge overnight to allow all the silt to settle; then decant and filter. The next step is to defat your soup before basify-ing. See posts 4 and 9:
    • What is the waxy skin that forms on emulsions and how to prevent it?
  • If an emulsion does form, "you need to draw it out of your container, then add an acid to it until it reaches a pH of 2.5. The emulsion will break after this. You then need to basify, and extract with NPS again." See post 12:
    • Powder MHRB STB Extraction with NaOH, NaCl and toluene => Huge emulsion

• It's more toxic than naphtha. See:
  • Post in thread 'xylene\toluene..' xylene\toluene..

• You get a more full-spectrum extraction.

______________________

That said, it seems like most people here abhor the smell of it or can only find xylene where they live. According to Wikipedia, the European Union and 24 US states have banned its sale due to people using it as an inhalant ....

I didn't mark the post, but one guy commented that it makes more sense to make the first 4-5 pulls with toluene, evaporate it, then re-extract in hot naphtha if you're after a more pure product. Most folks use it after they've done their naphtha pulls, to dredge out whatever little goodies remain in their alkaline aqueous solution.

I'm interested in hearing what others who've worked with toluene have to say about it, especially when it comes to dealing with emulsions.

 

[_Trip_]

Emulsion can be mitigate with extra lye. I've worked with a toulene, hexane, heptane mix works well pulls oil which often solidifies to a wax.

 

[Transform]

Thanks for the nice review. Unfortunately I live in one of the places where it's way too difficult to get hold of toluene!

It would seem prudent to include "useless for freeze precipitation" among the cons.

Xylene/xylenes are about the same as toluene in most of their solvent properties, but with a higher boiling point and thus a slower evaporation rate. It would be great if you could produce similar summaries for xylene and other solvents, since this would be useful data for the wiki.

 

[TheGreenPhantom]

I agree – the wiki is a little sparse on some topics.

I just tried to log on, but I was told that my user name "does not exist."