[fedplast]

Hello,
I'm new to the site;
I'm not a chemist and I apologize if I'm posting in the wrong forum. (in fact I'm pretty sure this is not the right forum...)

I'm looking for something to replace carbon tetrachloride in our application: we are plastic processors, and we try to recycle most of our scrap. occasionally we might have pieces of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) mixed with Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and we would use a drop of carbon tetrachloride to distinguish between them: hips would become sticky, or tacky, and ABS would not get affected.

we had a 1 liter bottle that lasted over 10 years. but it's running out and I think this has been outlawed, or restricted: made many calls, worked the google, but no luck.

I was hoping someone on this forum would kindly point me to an alternative product.
please note that we are located in canada.

thanks in advance for your time and advice

[DevaDevil]

probably this would be best suited in the organic chemistry forum?

I am sorry to have to admit that this is not by any means my field of expertise, and will defer to people with more experience in polymer/organic chemistry to answer this one.

[Stepan]

You still can buy CCL4.  It is just expensive if you buy it in North America.

[fedplast]

thanks for the replies.
you can still buy it? can you tell me where, please?
I would have to find out if I can bring it into Canada, but that's the smaller problem.

[Stepan]

Actually I am in Canada. I bought 100 mL from Sigma Aldrich. The only difference is that they require some paperwork to assure that you dispose it properly, also the price was around $1/mL. I am sure there are other distributors.

[Enthalpy]

That's getting funny!

I bet CCl₄ is outlawed since the Montreal protocol that banned all CFC for harming the atmosphere.
Hence you would assure proper disposal in paperwork, and let CCl₄ evaporate in your normal use...

What about a different solvent, maybe? Trying the common ones isn't expensive: acetone, turpentine...

Or can you distinguish the material by its sound at hammer impact?

Or by how a needle feels in your fingers when scratching the surface?

And the most eco-friendly one: train a dog to sniff out the composition of your scrap. I like this one!

[Stepan]

I just double checked. It is there 1L is $372.50.

[Stepan]

The "trained dog" is my favored method

That's getting funny!

I bet CCl₄ is outlawed since the Montreal protocol that banned all CFC for harming the atmosphere.
Hence you would assure proper disposal in paperwork, and let CCl₄ evaporate in your normal use...

What about a different solvent, maybe? Trying the common ones isn't expensive: acetone, turpentine...

Or can you distinguish the material by its sound at hammer impact?

Or by how a needle feels in your fingers when scratching the surface?

And the most eco-friendly one: train a dog to sniff out the composition of your scrap. I like this one!

[jeffrey.struss]

What about trying chloroform or methylene chloride? Dirt cheap comparatively to get a hold of.

I think CCl4 is a pretty strong carcinogen which is why it is so heavily controlled.

[Stepan]

What about trying chloroform or methylene chloride? Dirt cheap comparatively to get a hold of.

I think CCl4 is a pretty strong carcinogen which is why it is so heavily controlled.

Quote: No adequate data were available from human studies to evaluate the carcinogenicity of carbon tetrachloride in humans (IARC 1979, 1982, 1987, 1999)

source: http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/eleventh/profiles/s029carb.pdf

[fedplast]

thank you all for your replies. in the absence of a trained dog, I'll follow stepan's direction.
I called local sigma aldrich, in the process of opening an account.

will follow through again, but for now, thank you very much.

[jeffrey.struss]

What about trying chloroform or methylene chloride? Dirt cheap comparatively to get a hold of.

I think CCl4 is a pretty strong carcinogen which is why it is so heavily controlled.

Quote: No adequate data were available from human studies to evaluate the carcinogenicity of carbon tetrachloride in humans (IARC 1979, 1982, 1987, 1999)

source: http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/eleventh/profiles/s029carb.pdf

Heh, my TA lied to me (or was misinformed like me) when they removed it from our organic lab (it was great for removing char from test tubes).