<p>Assuming you are talking about ethanol: it is a common chemical substance, generated naturally from e.g. rotting fruits. So any pollution from hand sanitizers should be negligible.</p>
<p>What happens to the alcohol in the atmosphere is an interesting sequence of reactions. I took the info below from an article (see link below).</p>
<p>In the air, ethanol is oxidized quickly (half-life is a few days) into <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetaldehyde" rel="noreferrer">acetaldehyde</a> <span class="math-container">$CH_3CHO$</span>, which is further oxidized into other compounds, most of which are harmless. However, if the air contains nitrogen dioxide <span class="math-container">$NO_2$</span>, it can form <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peroxyacetyl_nitrate" rel="noreferrer">peroxyacetyl nitrate</a> <span class="math-container">$CH_3C(O)OONO_2$</span>, which is dangerous.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.scielo.br/pdf/jbchs/v8n5/a02v08n5.pdf" rel="noreferrer">Source</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-29T17:59:45.640Z
2020-07-29T17:59:45.640Z
anatolyg
<p>With all the COVID-19 stuff going on, I feel the usage of alcohol-based hand sanitizers has increased many fold.
I wonder what happens to all that evaporated alcohol in the atmosphere.
How soon does alcohol react in environment and what other substances are formed?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-29T13:50:15.920Z
If you're interested in reactions and compounds, maybe more suitable at Chemistry SE? https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/
Jean-Marie Prival
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-07-29T15:46:21.710Z
ethanol breakes down into carbon-hydrogen and oxygen,it is close to cabon neutral so the climate impact is very low.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-11-12T20:35:28.813Z
Hand hygiene with hand sanitizer versus handwashing: what are the planetary health consequences?
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-022-18918-4 Pandemic products and volatile chemical emissions
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7452613/
rob
<atmosphere><atmospheric-chemistry><evaporation>
Does evaporated hand sanitizer pollute the environment?
Anurag Dubey
# Does evaporated hand sanitizer pollute the environment?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-07-29)

With all the COVID-19 stuff going on, I feel the usage of alcohol-based hand sanitizers has increased many fold.
I wonder what happens to all that evaporated alcohol in the atmosphere.
How soon does alcohol react in environment and what other substances are formed?

**Tags:** atmosphere, atmospheric-chemistry, evaporation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: If you're interested in reactions and compounds, maybe more suitable at Chemistry SE? https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/  
> **username_2**: ethanol breakes down into carbon-hydrogen and oxygen,it is close to cabon neutral so the climate impact is very low.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol  
> **username_3**: Hand hygiene with hand sanitizer versus handwashing: what are the planetary health consequences? https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-022-18918-4 Pandemic products and volatile chemical emissions https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7452613/  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2020-07-29. Score: 7 | Accepted answer

Assuming you are talking about ethanol: it is a common chemical substance, generated naturally from e.g. rotting fruits. So any pollution from hand sanitizers should be negligible.

What happens to the alcohol in the atmosphere is an interesting sequence of reactions. I took the info below from an article (see link below).

In the air, ethanol is oxidized quickly (half-life is a few days) into [acetaldehyde](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetaldehyde) $CH\_3CHO$, which is further oxidized into other compounds, most of which are harmless. However, if the air contains nitrogen dioxide $NO\_2$, it can form [peroxyacetyl nitrate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peroxyacetyl_nitrate) $CH\_3C(O)OONO\_2$, which is dangerous.

[Source](https://www.scielo.br/pdf/jbchs/v8n5/a02v08n5.pdf)


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