Potassium Permanganate - Foodsafe?

smemflynn

Hi,

I'm undertaking research into the ethylene absorbing combination of zeolite and potassium permanganate, and need to know a bit about the toxicity of potassium and such.

Is anyone up for a little bit of brain picking?

Thanks in advance,

Emily

SOL

If you are looking for safety information on chemicals the best thing to do is get the material safety data sheet from the supplier - try going to sigmaaldrich.com searching for potassium permanganate and then you will be able to download it from there.

But from my own experience, potassium permanganate stains everything especially skin with a brown stain which can take 6-8 weeks to go. It is a disaster if it gets in your eyes - be sure to wear goggles.

It is also a very strong oxidising agent - youtube for glycerol and permanganate to see what I mean. In that sense, I take it the project is to remove the ethylene rather than to reversible adsorb it? I would be cautions about allowing a combination of ethylene and air in contact with your mixture - there is a high chance of spontaneous ignition which if you have a large gas air mixture means explosion!

Anyways, if you have more details about the project I'd be happy to hear them - and remember, MSDS are available for every chemical so you should read them!

bduffy

Hi,
Are you looking at this from a fruit preservation angle? Absorption of ethylene by zeolites has been used to keep bananas fresh previously. ....