How to Purify Isopropyl (Rubbing) Alcohol?

Purifying alcohol is actually very simple, and can be done without having to buy anything...
When you buy Rubbing Alcohol from the store, it is commonly 70-95% pure. This alcohol contains
anywhere from 5-30% water, and is an Azeotrope (a mixture of two liquids that cannot be separated
through distillation).
Because many liquids have different boiling temperatures, one liquid of a mixture of two can be boiled
away to leave the second liquid remaining nearly pure. This process is called Distillation.
With rubbing alcohol, to separate the water from the alcohol, an attractant of one needs to be
applied. Salt (NaCl) cannot be dissolved by rubbing alcohol, but it can be dissolved by water. That
means salt and water have an afnity for each other and will draw closer together to combine.
A constant of .38 grams of salt for each 1ml of water will draw the water away from the alcohol. But
to determine how much salt is needed, the quantity of water (in grams) that's in the alcohol must
rst be determined by volume.
Example: If using a 70% solution of Rubbing Alcohol from a full 1000ml container,
Then 30% of the 1000ml is water, which is equal to 300ml.
If .38g of salt per every 1 ml H
2
O is to be added, then for 300ml's of water...
.38g/1ml x 300ml = 114g of salt is to be added.
After adding 114g of salt to the 1000ml of 70% rubbing alcohol, the liquid should be allowed to sit.
After a while, the liquid will have separated into two layers (similar to oil & water). One layer will be
alcohol and the other will be water & salt, or salt water.
Now that the alcohol is separate from the water, the next challenge is to extract all the alcohol
without removing any salt water! The solution is Freezing. This is because salt water and alcohol
freeze at very different temperatures. Salt water freezes fairly easy at a low temperature, where
alcohol freezes at a very high temperature. By placing the separated liquid of salt water and alcohol in
the freezer for a while (using any exible container that will not crack), one of the liquid layers will be
found completely frozen (the salt water), while the other will still remain as a liquid (nearly pure
alcohol). Then simply pour the unfrozen liquid alcohol into another clean container to behold the
separated 99% pure Rubbing Alcohol