No, no, and no.
The first question should be why do they want to do this? Then the next one is what kind of scale? What is the material, is this the only solvent, how soluble is the material in the solvents being used…etc.
The scenario sounds like they want to grow crystals of a material dissolved in the solvent or solvent mixture. Again, this goes to scale and purpose. If they want high quality crystals for X-ray crystallography, it’s probably a few mL of solution. And if they are purifying a material by crystallization the scale has changed and now there are questions about whether they need to do a cold filtration, if the material is air-sensitive, what will the material be washed with and how soluble is it in that washing solvent etc. etc.
But that’s all speculation. Have them explain the complete use case to you and go from there. There are lots of technical suggestions I and others could make once we understand that.
Best wishes,
Rob Toreki
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On Mar 10, 2026, at 1:15 PM, Pemberton, Drew (apemberton**At_Symbol_Here**uidaho.edu) <0000231dd2f469c4-dmarc-request**At_Symbol_Here**LISTS.PRINCETON.EDU> wrote:
Hello all, I could use some advice!
I have a researcher who is wanting to evaporate some methanol from some samples over the course of a few days at low temp (~4C). They had planned on doing this inside their fridge, but luckily was in a safety meeting where I mentioned that flammable liquids should not be stored inside a non-flammable rated fridge and reached out to me for an alternative.
They were thinking of getting a small mini-fridge (think like one of those soda can fridges) and sticking it inside a fume hood with a straw or something else stuck into the door crack to allow for some ventilation. After doing some back of the envelope math, at fridge temps the saturated concentration of methanol would be around 53000 ppm, which is a bit too close for the LEL of methanol (around 60000ppm) for my comfort. I’m not sure what else would be a good alternative.
Anyone have any thoughts on this? Would this be an acceptable level of risk? Has anyone dealt with a flammable liquid evaporation scenario at low temps (or any temps) like this before? Appreciate any input!
Regards,
DREW PEMBERTON
Laboratory Safety Officer
Environmental Health and Safety
apemberton**At_Symbol_Here**uidaho.edu
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