California smog rules coming up

[WEC4104]

I'm pretty quick to yell "HOGWASH!" (or something more colorful) whenever somebody's story doesn't add up, but my jury is still out on the Napalm / Charcoal Lighter fluid thing.

It is true that Dow was the sole supplier of Napalm to the military during the Vietnam era. Although, technically speaking it was the reformulated Napalm-B.  The original napalm contained napthalene and palminate, as well as aluminum soap with gasoline.  By the Vietnam period, the composition had changed over to polystyrene, benzene and gasoline.  

The internet shows that there have been patents issued for the reclaiming of styrene found in Napalm. Basically, it sounds like a distillation process whereby the mixture is heated and the gasoline and benzene separate out at different temps.

Since 1973, the US stockpile of napalm was stored at the naval weapons station in Fallbrook, CA. There have been a couple of government contracts to recycle and dispose of the stuff.  3.3 Million gallons of it was used for firing a cement kiln in East Chicago for two years.  Some has also been burned as additives to coal and natural gas plants in Texas and Louisiana.

That is how our military disposed of their stockpile. If Dow Chemical did, in fact, have a stockpile of their own, it is anybody's guess what they did with it.  The fact that napalm can be separated out into gasoline and benzene, and the fact that benzene is an ingredient in charcoal lighter fluid, at least lends some plausibility.      ....  Isn't it amazing what you learn reading about buses?

[JohnEd]

WEC,

Amazing does not even half cover it.  Nice work and well done.

I saw a documentary long ago about pollution.  It involved trace amts of benzine in drinking water.  Seems that the clue that there was a problem when 10% of the children developed leukemia...and died, of course.  You must know the rest of that story as it has been repeated so many times for so many substances.  It boggles my mind that benzine is a component of charcoal lighter, still to this day.  Guess that proves that the lighter is not a "approved for food processing" chem.

You are from Pa?  Ever work at Mechanicsgurg Naval Supply Depot?  You mentioned Fallbrook Weaps depot.  My Command installed all the burglar alarms in those bunkers up there in the mid 60's.  Napalm isn't all they have up there....it gets worse. Do you have a connection to the industry or an agency?  Interesting stuff.  I am sure many are interested in this topic but maybe offline would be better.

Thank you for sharing and all,

John

[WEC4104]

John:

No, I've never had any affiliation with the military or their supply chain. I'm no organic chemist either, I just compiled info from several sources after playing around with some Google searches. Oh.... and I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

I can state with some certainty that Benzene has been used as an ingredient in charcoal lighter fluid. There was a class action lawsuit filed in Massachusetts that named a list of Benzene containing substances, and the charcoal lighter fluid was on their list.   I can't say for sure whether ALL of the charcoal lighter fluids contains Benzene, or whether new Benzene-free products have come on the market.  For that matter, I never got far enough into this to confirm whether Dow, or one of their entities actually produce this product.

I would have to think that if liquid charcoal lighter fluid is used properly, the Benzene would be fully burned away before the food ever sees the grill.   I've never been a big fan of the pre-soaked briquettes like Matchlight, as I think they keep emitting fumes longer.

Various websites seem to split their concern about charcoal lighter fluids into two areas. Basically, there is general concern about any product that contains Benzene, a known carcinogen. [Benzene is also found in all sorts of stuff you will find in your garage, including WD40, Weed-B-Gone, and the gasoline you buy at the pump is about 1-2% Benzene.]    The other concern are the environmental issues from burning the stuff, including the release of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air.   

Oh, ... and use of Napalm for lighting your home charcoal grill should be highly discouraged. 

[Airbag]

Back in the seventies we lit our charcoal using a metal one gallon can with the top cut off and several 1 inch holes around the bottom. We lit our charcoal with one sheet of newspaper. Now they sell these type of starters. Missed the boat again.

Remember the additive in gasoline MTSB or something like that? When the environmentalist demanded it in our gas the oil companies said "oh that's going to be expensive". Several years later it showed up in the squiggly wiggly bug eyed river minnow and they demanded it's removal from the gas, The oil companies reply "oh that's going to be expensive"