I am planning to produce carbon nanotubes using the carbon inside the Ethanol.
process is as follows:
Inside the Vacuum Chamber, I will be placing 5ml liquid Ethanol. When I vacuum all the air in the chamber ethanol will begin to boil Du to lewered boiling point and finally it will be in gaseous form. By the way some of the ethanol vapour will go through the vacuum pump.
I learned that this is not good for the pump. How critical is ist?? What kind of vacuum pumps are used for such processes?
then I will be heating a carbon heat plate inside the chamber using electricity (Resistance heating) it will go up to 700 degrees (Hopefully)
Now..is there a explosion risk in this process?
if yes what should be different? If there is an air leakage to the chamber, what is the minimum amount of air in volume percentage to start an explosion?
does anyone has experience on this topic?
Hi Onur Ozan Çilsal, attached is a list of papers describing the formation of carbon nanotubes from ethanol. Apparently this cannot be achieved without the use of a catalyst.
Hello Onur Ozan Çilsal ,
I don't know anything about making carbon nanotubes, but you can prevent ethanol vapor from reaching the vacuum pump by installing a cold trap immersed in liquid nitrogen between the reaction chamber and the vacuum pump. The outside of the cold trap can be immersed in a thermos flask of liquid nitrogen; the thermos flask can be raised up using a screwjack table or some other mechanical arrangement such as a three-finger clamp on a rod frame. If there is a valve between the cold trap and the vacuum pump, you can close it after the air has been removed. Then remove the liquid nitrogen from around the cold trap to allow the ethanol to vaporize and fill the space of the cold trap and the reaction chamber, and then finally start your pyrolysis reaction.
The other possibility is to immerse the reaction chamber in liquid nitrogen, pump out the air, and then close the valve between the reaction chamber and the vacuum pump, allow the reaction chamber to warm up to room temperature, and then start your pyrolysis.
I am not sure why you need to continuously pump the reaction chamber during the pyrolysis. I mean, once the air removed, there is no oxygen left to interfere with your reaction.
Note, make sure you are wearing safety glasses or, better still, a full face shield, against flying glass shards caused by an accident, and wear thermal gloves, against any spilled liquid nitrogen.
Regards,
Tom Cuff
Hi Onur Ozan Çilsal ,
Sorry, I forgot to mention that you can use a mechanical vacuum pump, known as a roughing pump, to evacuate the reaction chamber.
Regards,
Tom
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