OK Lab Rat, I am having some real problems on this whole vacuum distillation thing. Everything has to be so darned complicated...
So, linoleic acid boils at "231 °C at 1.70E+01 mm Hg", so that (low) pressure is my bogie.
I use google and that 1.70E+.01 mm Hg thing looks like it translates to millimeters of mercury at standard atmosphere or something like that. That, including the whole formula with the E and the plus 0.1 thing means absolutely nothing to me LOL.
I plug in "1.70E+.01 mm Hg" on this converter:
https://www.convertunits.com/from/mmHg/to/atm
And it truncates that to 1.70E01. I have no idea whether that is right. But then that converter spits out .022 atm, which I assume is .022 atmospheric pressure.
If that is right, how hard is it to get something down to .022 atmospheric pressure? If normal atmospheric pressure is 1.00, it seems to me .022 is a very, very big reduction!
And the pumps its really hard to tell what pressure they will get you down to. Here is a cheap one:
https://www.amazon.com/Homesprit-Fi...acuum+distillation+pump&qid=1638056598&sr=8-5
I would have guessed since its so cheap no chance it would do the trick, and consistent with that I do not see any kind of pressure rating in its description. But them I look in the reviews, and one of the first ones says that, under the "UPDATED", that this pump could only pull -7 Hg. Well when I use that link above but put in -7 Hg I get -.23 atmosphere, here is a link:
https://www.convertunits.com/from/in+Hg/to/atm
NEGATIVE atmospheres, is that right? Is this one indeed far and away powerful enough to hit the 0.022 atmosphere metric?
Then there is the glassware kids and what not. You have something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Suction-Filt...vacuum+distillation+kit&qid=1638058235&sr=8-4
It indeed has a hose for a vacuum pump it looks like, but it seems it has a glass filter between the top and bottom pieces, and the vacuum is just supposed to help pull stuff from the top to the bottom? Not a true vacuum distillation device like we need, is it?
THIS is something like I am looking for, correct?
https://www.amazon.com/Distillation...vacuum+distillation+kit&qid=1638058235&sr=8-3
That, big enough pump, a stands with clamps, and I should be good to go correct? Or is that too flimsy to take the pressure without imploding?
Any thoughts on what I need are greatly appreciated Lab Rat!!!!