Methanol is hard to find around here. I was just wondering what the percentage of methanol was used in a typical gallon jug of automotive window washing fluid, usually seen everywhere for a $buck or so. I first thought of distilling it, but also wondered about placing a large cloth bag of silica gel (found on Ebay cheap) in a clear gallon mason jar with the fluid. After a while, the silica gel would absorb most of the water (some sources claim 99.5%!) .

http://holographyforum.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2979

The silica gel could then be dried and reused for the next batch. The jugs I've looked at don't give a percentage of the methanol content, but list methanol first as the major component.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/me...ter-d_987.html From this chart, one would assume a methanol concentration of close to 50%, possibly showing an economy potential of $2 gallon for the methanol.

I often wondered how popular the distillation of ethanol from E85 is getting....for drinking purposes? I don't consume alcohol anymore, having enjoyed a long "career". $4/gallon for 200 proof booze would make it attractive for sure, just monitor the distillation curves like a hawk. I'm sure the goverment chemists would soon find a chemical additive to discourage this practice....but it would be difficult to imagine which compound they would employ.