chemistry questions ektaflo type 2

[lloyd]

hoping someone with chemistry experience will advise.....

Ektaflo type 2, Kodak's discontinued liquid warmtone paper developer is
supposedly the Ektonol formula and neither is published. The MSDS for
Ektaflo type 2 is below:

concentrate
% weight
70-75 water
5-10 potassium sulfite
5-10 sodium sulfite
1-5 potassium borate
1-5 potassium hydroxide
3 hydroquinone
2 diethylene glycol
dilute 1:9 to make working solution

Is this translation even close?

65g pot sulfite
65g sodium sulfite
21g pot borate
21g pot hydroxide
26g hydroquinone
17g glycol
WTM 1L
dilute 1:9

questions:

1. what is the proper ratio of the borate to the hydroxide? Do these chemicals form potassium metaborate in solution? If so what would be the proper amount as a substitution?

2. what is the purpose of the small amount of diethylene glycol? A preservative? Can other glycols be substituted? (ie propylene glycol?)

3. the target ph is 11.1 for the concentrate, 10.5-10.7 for the working solution; relevant I know but I'm unsure how to relate/adjust it in trying to translate Kodak's data.

thanks for any comments.

 

[Mike Wilde]

hoping someone with chemistry experience will advise.....

questions:

1. what is the proper ratio of the borate to the hydroxide? Do these chemicals form potassium metaborate in solution? If so what would be the proper amount as a substitution?

I have done this to create a metaborate stock solution - with a little math and high schhol chem textbook as a freresher/reminder.

- I used the metaborate chemical composition, molar weights method, and fished the weights for each element off the periodic table. This allowed me to figure how much of the hydroxide and how much of the borate to combine. my work was with the sodium variants.

- to adjust pH I use pippette drips of 40% soduim hydroxide to raise, and drips of 28% acetic acid to lower.

 

[psvensson]

Doesn't it look like it's lacking a restrainer?

 

[Mike Wilde]

msds limitations

I recall that msds doesn't have to list things under 1 part.

Bromide could be under 1%;

Benzotriazole most certainly would, as would iodides, which pack much more restraining punch than bromides.

 

[Lowell Huff]

You can reinvent a discontinued wheel, or you can buy a current product ( Clayton P 20 Print Developer) that provides a similar or the same result.

 

[lloyd]

Mike,

thanks for the heads up on the MSDS.

It is possible however that this developer may not have a restrainer--I base this on looking at the formula for Agfa 120 which has only sulfite,
p. carbonate and hydroquinone, no restrainer.

Also of note is that the Ektaflo 2 has no carbonate, supposedly as an aid in toning(?)

On looking at this formula again, I think this is closer(concentrate):

96g pot sulfite
96g sodium sulfite
54.2g pot borate
11.34g pot hydroxide
36g hydroquinone
24g glycol
WTM 1L
dilute 1:9

This assumes that the borate and hydroxide are in a ratio
to make pot. metaborate, but this may not be the original intention.
I'm not sure as it's not much accelerator (65g p. metaborate), but perhaps the sulfite is also active in this regard. Certainly too much accelerator is going to be a problem with no restrainer.....

Anyone else care to comment?

 

[Mike Wilde]

sulfite as restrainer

Bob Schwalberg - 70's 80's era photo magazine contrtibutor I believe thought of sodium sulfite as a near proof that there was a god.

It can act as the alkaline agent, the preservative agent and the restrainer agent all in one. Look to D-23 as the proof.