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Michael Lodman

How to determine fire hazard of heating ethylene glycol to dissolve borax and boric acid

Alloyce Jackson  Follow

Chlorates, perchlorates, permanganates and other strong oxidants conflagrate even at room temperature with ethylene glycol.

Boric acid and borax, however, are not considered strong oxidants and should probably be safe to dissolve below the boiling point of water. That said, I would test a small batch in a safe place, to be sure there is not a large gain in temperature on dissolving.

BTW, you might be interested in reading of the preservation of the Swedish warship Vasa in polyethylene glycol, and long-term issues with acidification. N.B. Polyethylene glycol is generally considered innocuous, but ethylene glycol is toxic if ingested.

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John Perlman  Follow
I think the ultimate answer here is test a smal batch in a safe place. Probably with planned catastrophic failure to have an idea of a worst case scenario. Then Ill repeat this with sodium chloride added, as this is always present in marine environments. Although I think they might have a typo on that safety sheet and meant to say sodium chlorite.More
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