99% pure alcohol

I need 99% pure alcohol. The 95% alcohol that is sold at pharmacies is not pure enough (contains water and residue).

Does someone know a place that sells this?

some pharmacies carry 99% alcohol, the ones near hospitals are more likely to have it than crappy franchise joints like Watsons… otherwise you’ll need to find one of those chemical shops, I can point you towards one in Taichung if that’s any good to you…

I’d try to get some IPA from Guang Hua computer market.

Hmmm… the IPA I know is a different kind of alcohol: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Pale_Ale

Hmmm… the IPA I know is a different kind of alcohol: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Pale_Ale[/quote]
ha, that article DOES mention a high alcohol content.

But, here is the real deal en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isopropyl_alcohol

Um, may we ask why? there are not too many reasons to use water-free alcohol in preference to 95% alcohol, and most of the reasons i can think of involve synthesis of some kind…

and if that’s so, how’re you gonna get rid of the last residue of water from the alcohol? not too many places sell molecular sieves.

Tianshui St. in Taipei has chemists (many open 9-5) who should sell stuff like this.

I need it to clean a circuit board. I finished soldering, and there are flux and dirt remains on the board. See this link if you like:

http://tangentsoft.net/audio/new-diyer.html
Quote: “It really is worth your while to seek out alcohol of 99% purity or higher. I’ve tried 90% isopropyl, which theoretically should be pretty good stuff, but it still left behind visible residue.”

I just did a little test on an old experimental circuit using the 95% alcohol you can buy here in Taiwan, it seems fine. There is no residue, only a bit of water. I might just use this one (I got a half liter bottle, it’s cheap).

Dragonbones, you said Tianshui St… On a map I could only find a Tianshui Rd. (天水路) in Datong district near Civic boulevard. Where is the Tianshui St. exactly, it must be near this one?

As a side note, I was at a pharmacy today where another customer said that it is not allowed in Taiwan to sell alcohol with higher than 95% purity.

Oh, same animal. :smiley:

usually only the 95% is legal in most countries (without a licence): too much diversion into illicit ie tax free alcoholic drinks.

peronally i wouldn’t drink it unless i knew it was distilled from cane sugar ferment, as most other processes (from coal, etc) for making it leave a nasty benzene residue. which is not a problem for cleaning boards. the residue you seee in 95% is from more than just water: pure water of course leaves no residue when it evaportes. try the difference between tap water and distilled or RO water if you don’t believe me.

Isopropyl alcohol would be better at removing oily stains from circuit boards than the ethyl alcohol, BTW. it’s less polar, but it does evaporate more slowly as a drawback…

unless you keep your 99% alcohol on a molecular sieve or other drying agent, it very quickly becomes 90% alcohol by absorbing water vapour from the air. try anhydrous calcium carbonate pellets for a cheaper solution. you need to bake them to drive off water that they have abosrbed first, then cool, then pour about 50-100g into 1 L of alcohol. can strain them out and recharge by baking again in a few months.

I know 99% is legal in Canada.
I use it mixed with distilled water for cleaning vinyl records.

we used to mix pure alcohol and OJ for parties. back at the old chem school. i remember well what the ceiling looked like.

another good recipe was to steep a stick of cinnamon, several cloves, and either cardamom or coriander pods (rusty brain here) in several litres for about six months, then knock back to 60-70% with water. made excellent shooters, or use as vodka with mixers!

Shopped at 3 different chain pharmacies today looking for isopropyl alcohol which is in every pharmacy back home. All they sell in those 3 chain pharmacies here is ethyl alcohol.