I believe you could have a potential problem with evaporated solvents
reaching a lower explosive limit in that space. 

Ethyl acetate	2.2% LEL
Ethanol		3.3% LEL
Hexane		1.2% LEL

As a precaution, you should monitor for this.

The information contained in this e-mail message and any attachments may
be confidential. It is intended only for the use of the individual or
entities named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended
recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution
or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited.  If you have
received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by
e-mail at the originating address.

Peter Lazarski
National Grid USA
Lab. & Testing Svcs., Bldg. 1
7437 Henry Clay Blvd.
Liverpool, NY 13088
(315)460-2114

-----Original Message-----
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of
nagyd**At_Symbol_Here**MSNOTES.WUSTL.EDU
Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2006 4:22 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] flammable solvents in clean room

Looking for some help on limited use of flammable solvents in a class
10,000 clean room.

The proposal is to use hexane, ethyl acetate, and ethanol (absolute) for
an
extraction and
purification project that would last approx. 1 week, would involve
approx
30 L total of the 3
solvents and here's the catch....there's no fume hood in the clean room.
The process would
involve mixing in 4-8L poly bottles, filtering using house vac, cleaning
with ethanol and oven drying
the cleaned glassware, distillation of hexane/ethyl acetate mixture,
then
do another extraction with ethanol,
distill the ethanol, finally drying the flask with its solid contents in
a
vac oven (house vac).

All this to be done at bench top in a positive-pressurized clean room.

I have suggested the use of a ductless fume hood provided that the
charcoal
filter can adequately handle
the 3 solvents. Obviously, everything has to be kept closed at all times
except when adding or removing.

But I would welcome other thoughts, suggestions, and experiences.

Dennis

Dennis R. Nagy, CHMM
Washington University
EHS/OSH
Campus Box 8229
St. Louis, MO 63110
(314) 747-3172
(314) 362-1995 (fax)
nagy**At_Symbol_Here**wustl.edu

**** For your information: the Rhode Island Operations of New England Gas Company have been acquired by National Grid and are now doing business under that name.  ****

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it, are confidential to National Grid and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.  If you have received this e-mail in error, please reply to this message and let the sender know.

Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post