Are the different alcohol types confusing you? Don’t worry. Below, you’ll learn about what 200-proof ethanol is and how you can use it.
So, you no longer have to waste time on the wrong product. And you’ll also smooth line buying decisions when you have a better understanding of how each product can help you.
Does that sound good? Let’s dive in.
What is 200 Proof Alcohol?
The solvent contains 100% ethanol, and you can also call it dehydrated or anhydrous alcohol. This product is free from denaturant additives such as methanol, kerosene, or acetone. However, pure ethanol is highly hygroscopic, so you can only get it with approximately 99% of alcohol.
Maintaining high purity standards forms a significant part of the solvent’s manufacturing procedures. To illustrate, processors making 200-proof ethanol also test for toxic heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, and thallium. The primary analysis method is the High-Performance Liquid Chromatography.
Many companies, therefore, use 200 proof alcohol in manufacturing edible products. Examples include the food industry, cannabis processing, cooking oil extraction, and others.
The government has strict measures to regulate how the population uses this solvent. So, you’ll find that regulatory agencies impose high taxes on these products. You also need a permit to purchase 100% alcohol.
What are the Uses of 200 Proof Alcohol?
Making Premium Cannabis Products
Pic Credit: Pixabay
Cannabis processors use 100% pure ethanol to produce a high-quality yield for their customers. This solvent helps you harvest an extensive collection of terpenes, alkaloids, and cannabinoids. You’ll also remove contaminants such as microbes, lipid waxes, and chlorophyll by using alcohol.
200 proof ethanol will help you reduce costs and make more profit in the long run. For example, you’ll save money because you can recycle the solvent during the production process, as it’s highly volatile.
Additionally, you’ll increase your earnings when your products have a better flavor and potency, giving the user a good experience.
Extracting Essential Oils
Ethanol extraction preserves delicate plant compounds such as terpenes and alkaloids. This method is thus better than steam distillation and vaporization, which degrades the integrity of those molecules. Therefore, you’ll benefit from the healing properties of these oils.
Research supports that 100% alcohol is a valuable solvent in making modern remedies. This innovation is possible because ethanol preserves vital tissues and nucleic acids from recycled plant biomass.
Manufacturing Beauty Products
The cosmetic industry uses ethanol to make fragrances and lotions and preserve beauty commodities. Also, this solvent is essential in extracting phenols, vitamins, and other anti-inflammatory compounds. Hence, you get a product that enhances your skin’s health.
But you might ask, doesn’t ethanol cause your skin to dry and flake? The solvent will affect you if you don’t add moisturizers and humectants to your cosmetics.
You’ll get youthful, glowing skin by using ethanol-based astringents. These products help you tone your skin and smoothen age-related wrinkles. And you’ll also gain unblemished skin when the astringent wipes off dirt and debris with infectious germs from your face.
Cleaning Surfaces
Ethanol provides a damage-free way to clean delicate items such as glass, metal, and electronics. You’ll get this benefit because alcohol dries fast, and it contains little water to cause rust damage or short-circuiting. So, you can use this solvent to clean stubborn grease or ink stains.
100% pure ethanol is ineffective for disinfecting surfaces. That shortcoming comes from its biggest strength: high alcohol content with little water.
This characteristic prevents adequate interaction of the solvent with the cell wall proteins because of the fast evaporation. Therefore, some microbes might survive and cause infections. So, you’ll benefit most by using 50-70% alcohol in your sanitizers.
Other Uses
Artists use alcohol in watercolors, dyes, and 3D printers.
200 proof alcohol can act as an environmentally friendly pesticide. You can thus apply this solvent to control mites and other destructive bugs on your plants. The pungent odor from ethanol will prevent those organisms from harming your crops.
Conclusion
200 Proof ethanol is an excellent solvent with many industrial and household applications. For example, you can use the solvent to make cannabis oil, essential oils, beauty products, and clean stains on surfaces. Alcohol’s polar and volatility characteristics make it perfect for those uses.
Store pure ethanol in a well-ventilated area and away from direct flames. This product is highly flammable.
About the author: Nikolay Stoyanov is the owner of a Colorado-based CBD SEO agency. His team and himself are performing top notch cannabis SEO for clients in the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
1 Comment
It’s nice that you mentioned how many companies use 200 proof pure ethanol in manufacturing edible products. I was reading up about some trivia earlier and just learned about 200 proof pure ethanol. It seems like a really flexible solvent since it could be used in quite a number of things.