Reclamation of Acetone by Freeze Vacuum Distillation
L.M. Janick and R.W. Henry
Summary
Reclamation of large volumes of acetone by freeze-vacuum distillation was practical, simple, economical to perform, and environmentally wise. The apparatus constructed primarily from items found within a plastination laboratory, proved to be effective for the distillation of the various percentages (45 - 94%) of acetone used for conducting this study. Three liter aliquots, of known acetone content, were distilled over a six hour period and resulted in reclamation of 94 to 98 percent acetone. Further distillation, of the remaining lower percentage acetone (2 - 20%) provided residual solutions to as low as 1percent acetone. Freeze-Vacuum distillation has served to reduce operating costs both by reclamation of large volumes of quality acetone and significantly reducing the volume of hazardous waste which must be disposed.