Buchi Rotavapor R-100 - Performing Distillation

6 | Operation BÜCHI Labortechnik AG
32/60 Operation Manual Rotavapor® R-100
6.2 Performing distillation
DANGER
Risk of poisoning from inhalation of hazardous vapors
u Do not inhale any vapors produced during distillation.
u Ensure that vapors are removed immediately by a suitable fume hood.
u Only use the device in well ventilated areas.
u If vapors escape from joints or connections, check the seals concerned and re-
place them if necessary.
u Do not distill any unknown fluids.
u Observe the safety data sheets for all fluids used.
DANGER
Explosion risk from distillation of hazardous materials
u Do not distill solvents that produce explosive mixtures of gases.
u Make sure that there is always a sluggishly reactive atmosphere inside the sys-
tem.
u Discharge any electrostatic charge by suitable grounding arrangements.
u Keep sources of ignition away from the apparatus.
WARNING
Risk of explosion from excessive internal pressure
The evaporating flask and/or the condenser could explode if the internal pressure pro-
duced by evaporation becomes too great.
u Make sure that the internal pressure inside the glass components is never greater
than atmospheric pressure.
CAUTION
Risk of skin burns from hot components
u Do not touch hot components unless wearing suitable protective gloves.
To achieve optimum distillation results, the following procedure is recommended:
u Adjust the flow rate of the coolant to suit the type of coolant and the cooling capac-
ity. If tap water is used, the flow rate should be at least 40L/h.
u Make sure that the coolant temperature is not more than 20 °C.
u Pour solvent into evaporating flask and fit evaporating flask (see Chapter6.1.2
"Fitting the evaporating flask", page28).
u Make sure that the receiving flask is fitted.
u Close the glass stopcock.
u Switch on the rotary drive unit and adjust the rotation speed if necessary.
u Set the vacuum so that the boiling point of the solvent is 20°C below the tempera-
ture of the heating bath.