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I have about 200ml of methylated spirits and 500ml of 100% isopropyl alcohol that I want to mix together in a plastic drink bottle. I will use it for fuel in an alcohol burning stove while camping. I can't seem to find any other information about mixing them so...

  1. Is it safe to do so?
  2. Is a clear plastic drink bottle OK to keep them in? (worried about melting the bottle - adverse reaction)
  3. If it is safe to mix them, will I end up with a more flammable mix?

Thanks for any help!

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    $\begingroup$ What is methylated spirit ? You may mean methylalkohol aka methanol. I would avoid a plastic drink bottle to prevent some health endangering accidental drinking, if other persons get hand on it. Or mark it very obviously as not drinkable. If people can drink acids, they can drink this as well. $\endgroup$
    – Poutnik
    Dec 16, 2020 at 11:30
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    $\begingroup$ @Poutnik Methylated spirit is a common name (at least in some anglo saxon countries) for cheap solutions of ethanol. To avoid making this a cheap source of drinkable ethanol (which needs to be taxed and food-safe), it is usually denatured with methanol (making it toxic), coloured with a strong dye (to make it visually obvious it isn't drinkable) and has a strong bitter flavour (often bitrex) added to make sure you know immediately it should not be drunk. $\endgroup$
    – matt_black
    Dec 16, 2020 at 12:00
  • $\begingroup$ No reason to mix it at first. This is pedantic, because I would mix them :) after being sure that a methylated spirit is indeed denatured ethyl alcohol. But normally flammables should be kept in smaller portion, if their use allows that. And this is your case. $\endgroup$
    – Alchimista
    Dec 16, 2020 at 12:03
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    $\begingroup$ A drinking bottle is not a good option, someone could mistake it for something to drink. Use an appropriate container. $\endgroup$
    – Martin - マーチン ♦
    Dec 17, 2020 at 0:38
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    $\begingroup$ I'm not at all sure why this has been closed, especially as "opinion based". It is a fairly simple question about chemical safety and not an issue about personal preferences or opinion. $\endgroup$
    – matt_black
    Dec 17, 2020 at 12:17

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Yes, as far chemical safety is the concern. No dangerous reactions nor dangerous phenomena will occur. The mixture, a solution to be more precise, will retain at least qualitatively the properties of the two components, eg will be a disinfectant, a flammable liquid, a solvent, and so on.

Flammable materials are better stored in separated containers in separated places.

For the case in question, going camping with two small bottles or one double sized bottle in the backpack won't make any real difference.

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