How to identify methanol containing hand sanitizer
September 2, 2020 5:32 PM   Subscribe

Is there an easy way to determine if a given sample of hand sanitizer contains methanol in substantial amounts? For example burning and observing the color of the flame perhaps?

Lots of off brand hand sanitizer suddenly for sale and given away locally, anyway to test if it’s safe? Some of it smells... off to me. Like dry erase markers or something.
posted by nzero to Health & Fitness (8 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: This isn't a direct answer to the question as posed, because it doesn't involve fire or chemistry, but the FDA has 18 pages' worth of listings of hand sanitizer brands known to contain methanol, so it's worth searching there for brand names on the packaging first.
posted by limeonaire at 5:44 PM on September 2, 2020 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I worked in labs for a while and I'm fairly confident I could tell the difference between pure* ethanol and pure methanol, but in a hand sanitizer that's 10-40% other stuff, including thickening agents and scents (and, presumably, even the ~70% that is alcohol wouldn't be all methanol, if you have a contaminated sample--based on the reporting I've seen, it would be a mix of ethanol and methanol)? No way no how.

I think checking against limeonaire's list is the right call, and, if in doubt, don't use it.

*Yeah, yeah, 95.6%
posted by pullayup at 5:56 PM on September 2, 2020 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: I’ve checked the lists but it’s proving a negative you know? I’m not confident but we need hand sanitizer 😩
posted by nzero at 6:04 PM on September 2, 2020 [1 favorite]


Best answer: At least one of the "artisanal" hand sanitizers I've seen since the pandemic started possessed the very distinctive smells of the less desirable products from distillation of a fermented grain mash: "heads" (solvent-like, often acetone AKA nail polish remover) and "tails" (funky, wet dog or cardboard?). I'm pretty sure this was from distilleries using their stuff to make sanitizer. So if your strange-smelling sanitizer has labeling indicating a distillery was involved, that might explain the odor. By the way, distillation of fermented stuff to make booze does not produce methanol, despite urban legend.
posted by exogenous at 7:24 PM on September 2, 2020 [2 favorites]


Best answer: One of the random "artisanal" bottles I snagged in April (when the supply was extra erratic) doesn't just smell like tequila, it smells like BAD tequila and lingers on your hands. It's terrible but it's not methanol. Wirecutter had an article that went into a bit more detail: Why do hand santizers suddenly smell so awful?.
posted by yeahlikethat at 7:37 PM on September 2, 2020 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Yup. Lots of headsy and tailsy ethanol getting dumped into hand sanitizer. It smells terrible. That’s not methanol though.
posted by weed donkey at 8:33 PM on September 2, 2020 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Hey thanks for all the answers! I really appreciate it.
posted by nzero at 11:25 AM on September 3, 2020


Response by poster: Hey just a little follow up after reading the stinky hand sanitizer link, that article states that the smell may be from the addition of methanol as an adulterant to make the ethanol undrinkable.
posted by nzero at 11:29 AM on September 3, 2020


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