Hand sanitizer works very nicely as a fire starter and also as the fuel in an alcohol stove.
Don't take that for granted without testing!
I have only tested one particular brand of hand sanitizer. That one (70% alcohol) made a very lousy firestarter/fuel. Yes it burned, but not very hot and it took surprisingly much effort to get it going.
Yes, I just tested some hand sanitizer sitting on my kitchen counter. It's 63% ethyl alcohol with Vitamin E of unknown quantity. I bathed a piece of inner tube in the sanitizer and tried to start a flame by using a spark from a ferro rod. Amazingly, a small flame actually started. However, the inner tube did not catch. The small flame must have been a fluke because, for the life of me, I could not repeat it. To make sure it wasn't my lack of skills, I tried igniting some jute. The jute quickly caught a flame from a spark, and the inner tube caught from the flaming jute.
These were ideal conditions in a garage. I now know the limitations of this particular hand sanitizer.
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