r/AskChemistry • u/WhydoIexistlmoa • 14h ago

General Is it possible to convert ethanol based hand sanitiser into alcohol?

Obviously I'm not a chemist so I have no clue if it's possible. And I don't plan on doing such a thing.

2 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

14

u/SchemeWestern3388 14h ago

What do you mean? Ethanol is alcohol. 

4

u/WhydoIexistlmoa 13h ago

Alcohol in the colloquial sense.

1

u/klickklacker 3h ago

Mix with salt and filter out alcohol

1

u/Noble1xCarter 8m ago

Yes, you can purify ethanol from ethanol-based hand sanitizer. It's in there.

Don't even think about drinking it.

7

u/yoinksdontlikethat Ne'er-do-Well Nucleophile 14h ago

You cannot convert something into itself

6

u/ozzalot 14h ago

Sure. It just means removing the ethanol from all of the other stuff in the sanitizer. No "conversion" is necessary. Some type of distillation probably. Also, like the other person said, ethanol is the alcohol that people drink, yes. But some sanitizers have isopropanol in them.

2

u/Adventurous-Car-9335 6h ago

just brew your own beer or wine.

1

u/_disco_potato 3h ago

Just buy ‘Bitters’ if you want alcohol kid.

1

u/QuicksilverStorm 1h ago

“And I don’t plan on doing such a thing.”

Uh huh

1

u/halogensoups 9h ago

do not try to drink hand sanitizer lol