Propane Tank Odor

[Piker]

Just wanted to let you all know that I think I found a way to get the methyl mercaptan smell out of a used propane tank. Oxy-Clean. I put 2 whole tubs of the stuff in the tank, and then filled the tank with water. Mixed it up with a pressure washer, and let it set for a couple days.

The tank smelled terrible before I did this... now there is almost no odor at all.

Billy Mays would be delighted.

cheers

 

[seige101]

Just wanted to you all know that I think I found a way to get the methyl mercaptan smell out of a used propane tank. Oxy-Clean. I put 2 whole tubs of the stuff in the tank, and then filled the tank with water. Mixed it up with a pressure washer, and let it set for a couple days.

The tank smelled terrible before I did this... now there is almost no odor at all.

Billy Mays would be delighted.

cheers

DID YOU SHOUT WHILE YOU WERE DOING IT?

heh

 

[xrayman]

then he used his ShamWOw to clean it up, sorry man had to do. That oxy clean is good stuff

 

[Medman]

From a chemistry standpoint it makes perfect sense, since the mercaptan is only neutralized by oxygen. Another treatment I found was hydrogen peroxide, but using oxy-clean would be cheaper for the amount required.

Good find!

 

[dogwood]

How big is the tank you poured the two tubs of Oxy-Clean into? And what size tubs of Oxy-Clean did you use? When you drained the tank after letting it soak a couple days did the drainage smell of mercaptan? I'm guessing not, but want to be sure before I drain a 1000 gallons of the stuff too near my home. Thanks for posting this solution.

Mike

 

[ssupercoolss]

then he used his ShamWOw to clean it up, sorry man had to do. That oxy clean is good stuff

and since he had so much time on his hand he went into the kitchen to chop up some stuff with his slap chop.

"you're gonna love my nuts"

 

[DaveBP]

I think the ingredient that is working on the mercaptan is the perchlorate in the oxyclean. It makes hydrogen peroxide when dissolved in water.

Watch out that you don't get it on any aluminum or galvanized metal. It's safe for iron and copper.

And don't dump it near your pond as it has a fair bit of phosphate, too.

Sounds like a good idea for the odor and any goo than might be in there, too. A good rinse afterward and it sounds like a better tank to me.

 

[Piker]

Hi guys... happy to offer up a solution that seems to work pretty decent. I put two "buckets" of oxyclean in a 500 gallon tank. I no longer have the empty buckets, so I don't know what size they were, but it was the biggest pail they had at walmart. I dumped the oxyclean into the tank when the tank was empty, and swished it around with a pressure washer to get it dissolved. I then let the tank fill for a couple hours with just a hose. Once the tank was full, I again took the pressure washer to the tank to make sure everything was mixed well. After setting for a couple days, I just rolled the tank over and dumped out the water. No smell in the water whatsoever. I then pressure washed the tanks out just to be safe. The empty tank had a very faint spring-clean/mercaptan odor that was 100 times les pungent than before the oxyclean.

Once I got the tanks placed in the crawlspace, there was a little odor in the house so I plugged the fittings with the plastic walmart bags that I bought the oxyclean in. But again, it was a pretty faint odor, and I am not worried about all the water in the system getting stinky. My guess is two buckets of oxyclean isn't a whole lot diluted in 500 gallons, and maybe more oxyclean would have worked better. Maybe letting it set longer would work better too. I would have let it set a week but I was up against a time issue for getting the tanks placed.

At any rate, I am glad this worked for me, and I am glad to share the experience with you all. In a week when my conrete pads are cured enough, I will fill the tanks and start using them. Wish me luck.

cheers

 

[Piker]

By the way, I appreciate the comments by the "chemists" on the forum. Basically I tried this on an educated guess... it's good to have actual information on why and how the oxyclean did what it did. Thanks

cheers

 

[mole]

By the way, I appreciate the comments by the "chemists" on the forum. Basically I tried this on an educated guess... it's good to have actual information on why and how the oxyclean did what it did. Thanks

cheers

Piker,
It was a pretty good educated guess and it makes sense. Mercaptans react with peroxide to form alkylsulfonic acids. In this case, I think the peroxide generated by the oxy-clean is oxidizing the ethyl mercapatan to make ethylsulfonic acid, which is probably neutralized by the soda ash in the oxy clean to give sodium ethylsulfonate salt (water soluble) + some CO2 gas.

JR

 

[DaveBP]

It was a pretty good educated guess and it makes sense. Mercaptans react with peroxide to form alkylsulfonic acids. In this case, I think the peroxide generated by the oxy-clean is oxidizing the ethyl mercapatan to make ethylsulfonic acid, which is probably neutralized by the soda ash in the oxy clean to give sodium ethylsulfonate salt (water soluble) + some CO2 gas.

JR

Mole.

Good name for a chemist. Middle name Avogadro, I assume?

 

[mole]

Dave,
Aren't we whitty today! I may be a bit of a geek, but I'm not THAT bad! Actually, my friends nicknamed me "the mole" because I hardly ever came up out of my "hole" (cellar) when I put my boiler in.