Reclamation of acetone in plastination laboratories: a simple and inexpensive method

Since the introduction of the plastination process by von Hagens [Anat Rec 194/2: 247-256, 1979], the cost of acetone used for the dehydration step has been considered an important factor in the cost of plastination. We have developed a three-step method that permits the reuse of acetone. The first step simply consists of storing the contaminated acetone in the freezer and separating the congealed fat by filtration. The second step is vacuum distillation of the acetone and can be conducted with the freezer and vacuum pump (found in any plastination laboratory) with just a few additions. It produces 95-97% pure acetone. The last step uses a desiccant to take away the residual water from the distilled acetone and brings the purity to 99.5%. With this method, we have reduced the amount of acetone to be purchased to a minimum and completely eliminated the cost of discarding used acetone. In addition vaporized acetone released during the impregnation step of plastination is recaptured.