Hey, all. So.. planning a backpacking trip in the spring. When you're passing through a city and you pick up some fuel for your liquid fuel stove, once you've filled up your fuel bottle, there will probably be some fuel left in the can it came in. What do you do with it, or how do you dispose of it? I don't imagine you would carry the can with you.

As luck would have it, I am employed as a chemist and spend much of my time analyzing ignitable liquids. White gas and similar products are very similar to the more volatile parts of gasoline.

Mixing it with gasoline won't be a problem. Use it in your lawnmower, car, whatever. Running it straight would actually burn cleaner than gasoline, but if you have a couple of gallons of gas in your tank already it is unlikely you'll notice a difference.

It can be used in liquid fuel cigarette lighters, such as Zippos. Some brands of liquid camp stove fuel are chemically indistinguishable from Zippo lighter fuel.

If you plan on staying in a campground another option would be to spot someone using an old school camp stove and offer it to them. I suspect most camp stoves in campgrounds are propane these days though but you could always try.

I'd mix it in with your cars gas if you can't find someone to give it to. I understand it has a much lower octane rating than auto gas, so be sure to mix with a fuller tank of gas. Don't run it straight in a lawn mover etc. Find a lantern collector to give it too, they'd be glad to get it.
Duane

Thanks for the responses, guys. I plan on taking a Zippo with me for that exact reason; to top of up with left over fuel. I'll have an eye-dropper bottle that I'll fill with fuel and just keep the Zippo topped up. Redundancy! I might even just give the remainder back to the retailer to take home or something. Karma, right?

Camp gas usually comes in a gallon can. Your question indicates you are "thru-hiking" and a gallon is way more than you'd want to carry, your car being no where near.
Am I right?
If yes, you can:
Carry more fuel bottels.
Ask the seller if you can buy "just enough".
Purchase an all fuel stove (my Optimus Nova is one) and fill your fuel bottles at a gas station.
Leave the can for others to fill from.
Most small sellers will work with you. If you are buying from a big store like a Walmart, you leave the can with customer service. A multi-fuel stove makes this really easy. ;-)

If thru hiking, I don't think many if any use gas stoves, you can see the issues. The logical and less issue centered fuel would be alcohol. Whatever you're smoking may have to wait unitl meal time when you light the stove, or use matches. If not doing a thru, you should have your fuel already to go when the TH is reached.
Duane

"If thru hiking, I don't think many if any use gas stoves, you can see the issues."

Good point. I'm pretty much Esbit and cookfires (where allowed). Turns out Esbit takes up less room and doesn't spill, but availability can be a problem. Which is why I created the "Altoids Stove" on this website. It fits on the Esbit stove frame and provides an alcohol alternative. Cook fires are easy, leave no trace, and fuel is all around you, again, if suitable for the area. Truth is, I don't cook much when out and only heat water when I do.

So if you don't cook much, what do you eat? I am under the impression that dehydrated food weighs less than hydrated food plus fuel, plus most stoves.
73, Jim
Hansville, WA
KE7IXM

Not much. Actually, fruit, packaged stuff, granola bars, tortillas, pouch prepared foods (chicken/fish/etc) to put in/on the tortillas, sausage, jerky, cookies, crackers, actually quite a lot of things don't need cooking or heating. If I heat anything it's to boil water for ramen or rice or the like. I hike mostly desert and water is at a premium.
If kayak camping or hiking near water, I'll cook more. I'd still rather leave the weight of stove/pots out of the pack.
Just me.