Extraction Process of Acetone
Walking past an alley, you notice the scent of acetone from a local nail salon. Much more than a nail polish remover, acetone is a chemical that can be made either naturally or manmade. This liquid is naturally occurring in things such as plants, trees and even gas from volcanoes. This colorless liquid chemical is important in purification processes.
The process of extraction is a scientific practice where substances can be separated from a part of a material. For example, the extraction of cannabinoids from THC. The importance in using acetone comes from its ability to purge many organic compounds including oils, fats, and plastics.
Acetone can be used in the purification processes because of its solvent properties. It can be found in exhaust from cars, trucks, or landfills. Gases released by factories into the air may also contain acetone, which could be toxic.
Properties of Acetone
- Dissolvable in water
- Burn rapidly (highly-flammable)
- Strong smell
- Strong taste (nail polish remover association)
- Evaporates easily
- Naturally occurring
- Non-toxic
- Cost-effective
- Low boiling point
- Solvent
What is a solvent?
To describe a solvent, you must understand the difference between solute and solvent in the process of solution making
Solute – substance that is added to a solvent to form a solution (can exist as solid, liquid, or gas) but the mixture is the same throughout (completely dissolves in another substance-uniformly distributed). A solute usually has a higher boiling point
Example: Salt
Solvent – substance that dissolves the solute particles during solution formation (typically a liquid state, depends on temperature of environment, polarity of solvent important with solute)
Example: Water “the universal solvent”
Would you like to learn more about Extraction Grade Solvents?
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