Originally Posted by
sweeks
"Denatured" alcohol, which is ethanol with 5-10% methanol added, is also good for killing viruses. NB: the methanol is added to "denature" the ethanol by making it POISONOUS to humans, so don't drink it!
Denatured alcohol is available by the gallon from a hardware store. It's also known as "burning" or "fuel" alcohol, since it burns well.
The weakness of alcohols for disinfection purposes is that they evaporate quickly. For some bacterial pathogens, a contact time of 5-10 minutes is necessary, and unless replenished, alcohols would be long-gone. I'm not sure about viruses, but the recommendation for hand sanitizers seems to be about 30 seconds of exposure. Hand sanitizers contain other ingredients (aloe?) that serve to slow the evaporation rate.
It's probably easier to use soap and water!
The US Code of Regulations lists 105 different substances that can be added to alcohol to denature it. Methanol is only one.
You are correct, however, in the need for longer contact time. Simply wiping with some kind of alcohol doesn’t do much. The concentration of the alcohol is also important. For 2-propanol, it has to be above 70% in order to disrupt the cell membrane.
Last edited by cyccommute; 03-30-20 at 10:41 PM.