In article ,
"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

Bob Engelhardt fired this volley in
:

As others have said: bleach. Forget the potassium permanganate -
you'll
have a devil of a time finding it and it's unnecessary (use a burn-in
fire to remove residual oil, etc & Bob's your uncle).

Bleach converts mercaptans just fine, but Bob, you must be living wrong
if you have trouble finding potassium permanganate! It's _everywhere_ as
"green sand" recharging material for iron-removal water filters.

It's not cheap, and bleach is perfectly acceptable. Any strong oxidizer
will work -- even hydrogen peroxide, if you have enough money!

I differ with you on the idea of cutting into an "unknown" propane tank,
though. You can't know if someone has introduced air into it. If they
did, you have a bomb on your hands (and "bombs are us", since I'm in that
business).

It's a minor bit of safety practice to yank the valve and properly purge
the tank. It's certainly less expensive than a stay in the emergency
room.

Lloyd

A little OT here, but just the other day I ran across a most interesting
YouTube video involving potassium permanganate and hydrogen peroxide...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLUyeCC-2Ko

Be patient, the cool part is the 'accidental' fast reaction towards the
end.

Erik