Dave

For my two penneth worth

I would try a mixture of dichloromethane and methanol to shift the
offending oil, providing there's no plastic involved, and use a
series of rinses of this mixture, if it's still a bit stubborn a
quick rinse with toluene will probably do the job. If you can, try to
sonicate the whole thing as well, whilst submerged in the solvent.
Finally put it in an oven to drive off the solvent, providing it's
over 75C, if you can get it higher without damging that which you
need cleaned do so, we normally get the temperature up to around
350-400C to err on the side of caution

I've used this method for oil contaminated equipment in the lab with
no problems, it just requires a little effort and elbow grease.

Cheers


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Bob Brown
Fossil Fuels and Environmental Geochemistry
The Drummond Building
The University of Newcastle-upon-tyne
NE1 7RU
Great Britain

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Tel: 0191 222 6000/8385
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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