What is 'mineral spirits' in USA articles

[FlyingDuck]

I have seen the yanks talk about mineral spirits in many articles. Is this the same as our mineral turpentine?

[Groggy]

Mineral turps

[Schtoo]

Yep, and naptha is shellite, denatured alcohol is effectively metho.

They gotta be different...

[brit_in_oz]

I work as a industrial chemist for a US company here in Oz

White spirits - refined from oil , comes in three different grades with different boiling points (130 - 170 degrees centigrade), plus an extra grade in the US called stoddard solvent. The lower the boiling point the faster it will exaporate. The grades are industrially known as low flash, regular and high flash)
Mineral turpentine is a type of white spirit but contains more aromatic character and has a higher boiling point. The effect of this will be to dissolve other organic components better but take longer to evaporate. One lot of white spirits from one maufacturer may not be the same as from another as each refinery will produce things slightly differently

Methylated spirits - 'metho', this is ~95% ethanol with ~5% methanol in (so you cant drink it!. Boiling point around 70 degrees centigrade, evaporated far quicker and in general is a worse solvent for organic materials(but more water compatible)

[outback]

Methylated spirits - 'metho', this is ~95% ethanol with ~5% methanol in (so you cant drink it!.

Who Shaid Sho Mishter!

Weren't none o' them Pink Nelephants flyin' round, thatsh fer sher.

[Barry_White]

Methylated spirits - 'metho', this is ~95% ethanol with ~5% methanol in (so you cant drink it!.

Speshly wif sum boot polish in it to give it some color.

[Ashore]

but is godda b cold brufer my lokal keps some in va frige for me





Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.

[kiwik]

Hey Brit in Oz, youve got them all coming out of the woodwork,
I often wondered hat they were doing up in the back shed

[Iain]

but is godda b cold brufer my lokal keps some in va frige for me





Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.

I only drink 'Metho Lite'

[rsser]

Thanks Brit-in-Oz.

What's parrafin ... the same as kero here?

And if a can of spirit stain says 60% hydrocarbon, any idea what it's likely to be? White spirit?

[ED T]

Just to correct some dud info on "Methylated" spirits.

Originally ethanol was "methylated" with methanol as described. But the trouble was that methanol tastes like ethanol, so people like my grandpappy did not recognise that they were drinking metho until they carked it.

So the powers that be decided to "methylate" ethanol with pyridine, which tastes lousy, and is hard to remove. Cut down grandpappy's drinking greatly. He had to flavour it with bootpolish and other stuff to mask the pyridine.

To this day, the "methylated spirit" you buy off the shelf is the pyridine version.

Perfumiers and others using ethanol as a solvent can still get true "methylated spirit", provided they are going to add stuff which will act like pyridine to make the brew unpalatable.

Ed T

[Five Thumbs]

Hi All

I remember this topic from an earlier thread. The following link is a handy reference:

http://www.ultralight-hiking.com/fue...whitespiritgas

Cheers

5T