Upgrading Recycled Acetone to 100% with Molecular Sieves

Abstract

Dehydration is a crucial step of plastination. Acetone is the dehydrant of choice for both cold and room temperature plastination. Contaminated (used) acetone produced during dehydration contains varying quantities of water, embalming chemicals and fat. When recycled with most conventional recyclers, the distilled acetone has a purity of 96-97.5%. In order to remove the remaining water and increase purity of recycled acetone to ~100%, molecular sieves were used. 22.7 Kg (fifty pounds) of 3A pore molecular sieves were used to remove the remaining 2.5-4% water from 208 l (55 gallons ) of recycled acetone (sieve to acetone ratio {454 g (1 lb): 3.78 l (1 gallon )}). Exposure of 97% acetone to molecular sieves consistently yielded 99.5-99.9% pure acetone.