X-Message-Number: 2175 Date: Thu, 29 Apr 93 14:39:59 CDT From: Brian Wowk <> Subject: CRYONICS Propanol Cost An industrial chemical supplier called me back this week after finally locating a source for n-propanol ("normal" propanol). At $1.80 per liter (CDN) it is only 10% more expensive than ethanol!. It freezes at -126'C (compared to -115'C for ethanol), making it an ideal thermal ballast material. Because it is less volatile than ethanol, Canadian regulations for propanol handling are also less stringent than for ethanol. The only catch is that we will still want to mix the propanol with water to reduce flammability. This will depress the freezing point of propanol to its eutectic point with water, which will be some unknown distance below -126'C. This will have to be checked experimentally. I have access to LN2, and the excellent thermocouple thermometer in my Alcor Transport kit reads with 0.5'C accuracy all the way down to -190'C. All I need are some small quantities of ethanol and propanol. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could get some? (I don't have any contacts in my local chemistry department.) --- Brian Wowk Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2175