[manc.aero]

Hello Chemistry Forums,

I am an aero student, so please go easy on me!

As part of my PhD I am required to be able to take samples of dust with a stick of crystalbond(https://www.agarscientific.com/crystalbond-adhesives), then apply a solvent (acetone) in order to dissolve the crystalbond and extract the dust. The problem is that doing this through a paper filter will start to trap dust in the pores of the filter and will leave me with much less sample than I really need (and the source is very sparse).

Does anyone know of a high yielding technique to extract the particles from the solvent? I have thought about using soxhlet but i dont know if it is the best way to attack the problem?

Thank you all for reading and have a great day

[billnotgatez]

evaporation?
rotovap?

[Babcock_Hall]

If one removes acetone via rotary evaporation, what will happen to the crystal bond?

[billnotgatez]

evaporation?
rotovap?

If one removes acetone via rotary evaporation, what will happen to the crystal bond?

My suggestions are wild stabs at a possible answer to the problem and @Babcock_Hall  has rightly called me on them.

But in the spirit of wild debate

Suppose that the crystalbond goes into solution with the acetone.
Suppose the dust particles are then floating in the solution.
Suppose that the dust particles eventually settle to the bottom or are encouraged to go to the bottom via centrifuge.
Suppose that the liquid is evaporated and leaves behind the crystalbond and dust in distinct layers
Could one harvest the dust from the bottom.
Sounds too optimistic to me

another possibility is combination of crystalbond and acetone evaporates together
highly unlikely don't you think?

The suggestion by the OP of using a soxhlet to somehow tease away the crystalbond from the solution is up for discussion.

[manc.aero]

Thank you for your suggestions.

RotoVap might be a good call. The question posed by Babcock_Hall is an interesting one however and might need some testing.

The acetone would likely boil and evaporate rather quickly and whether or not the crystalbond volatilizes *with* the acetone/soon after would be also interesting. I think the problem of heating the round bottom flask is interesting also, since some of the minerals I want to analyse will possibly be affected by heating. How much heat would be applied?

We have tried using a simple paper filter and washing, but the slow drawdown of the acetone allowed some of the crystalbond to crystalize on the filter and stick the dust to the paper, rendering the extraction useless.

I might be in favour of centrifuging. How would people feel about that?

[billnotgatez]

I sort of feel like a dummy.
Why rotovap when you can just centrifuge.

 I would , as the OP suggested, combine the crystalbond + dust mixture with the solvent
let the  crystalbond dissolve
centrifuge and carefully pour off the solvent leaving the dust in the bottom of the vile
put more solvent in and mix
centrifuge again and carefully pour  ​off the solvent leaving the dust in the bottom of the vile again
repeat maybe 3 times
after the last pouring let the remaining solvent evaporate

this might wash away the crystalbond leaving just the dust.

[Babcock_Hall]

I like the centrifugation idea, and I should have thought of it.  If plastic tubes are not suitable, Corex tubes are a special kind of glass centrifuge tube that can be spun at higher RCF than other glass centrifuge tubes.