I recently bought an ethanol burning fireplace. Basically it is a metal box that holds about a litre of methylated spirits and you light it. It works great and is surprisingly efficient at heating for a small flame. There is no smell, apart from a slightly sweet scent if it burns out. The smell got me and my girlfriend talking, what would happen if you put an essential oil in there before lighting? Would it just sink to the bottom and provide no scent? Burn and splutter all over the place? Obviously chemistry is not my forte, could anyone help?
Pure methylated spirits (denatured ethanol, IOW) will dissolve essential oils very well. They would most likely burn along with the spirits and not produce much of a nice smell. It might also leave residue. It’s better to mix essential oils with water, and heat the water – then the oils evaporate instead of burning.
Oils will possibly muck up the fuel feeding system, also some essential oils may not be safely burnable as they contain chemical or compounds that might irritate the eyes and sinuses/respiratory tract if burned.