Re: Recycled Xylene Odor

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From:"John A. Kiernan" <jkiernan@julian.uwo.ca> (by way of histonet)
To:histonet <histonet@magicnet.net>
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Dear Colin,

   At 04:18 PM 10/16/98 -0500, you wrote:
> Our recycled xylene has a "methenamine" odor (also
> described as distilled tissue smell and fishy).
>
> My question is:  are there any deodorizers available
> which will take out this smell so that xylene smells
> like xylene?

  Vanillin is much used in industry to cover up
  unpleasant smells of oily materials - by substituting
  something bland and generally acceptable.  It's
  quite cheap (Can $16.60 for 100 g in the Sigma
  catalogue). According to the Merck Index it
  mixes with all organic solvents, and is functionally
  equivalent to 400 times its volume in vanilla pods!
  Probably you'd need very little if its going to
  work at all, and to most noses it would be preferable
  to the sort of ghastly perfumes they put in fly sprays
  and sell just inside the doors of department stores.

  Hope this helps,
                  John
                      John A. Kiernan
                      Department of Anatomy
                      Univ. of Western Ontario
                      LONDON,  Canada.
                        kiernan@uwo.ca
                        FAX (Dept): 519-661 3936




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