Gasohol

"Cubdriver" wrote

Well, the alky presumably was shipped in full tanks / barrels /
whatever, so we can hope it's undiluted.

But, it is _very_ difficult (it takes some expensive chemistry tricks) to
get all of the water distilled out of alcohol, in other words, stronger than
around 98% alcohol. Is that all the alky producers go for, or do they use
the expensive tricks to get the last two percentage points of water out of
the alky?
--
Jim in NC

In rec.aviation.owning Morgans wrote:

"Cubdriver" wrote

Well, the alky presumably was shipped in full tanks / barrels /
whatever, so we can hope it's undiluted.

But, it is _very_ difficult (it takes some expensive chemistry tricks) to
get all of the water distilled out of alcohol, in other words, stronger than
around 98% alcohol. Is that all the alky producers go for, or do they use
the expensive tricks to get the last two percentage points of water out of
the alky?

It would be pointless as 100% alcohol would immediately start absorbing
water from the air.

In another post I said alcohol would absorb about 2-3% by volume. A web
search gives numbers in the range of 2-4%.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

Blueskies wrote:


If the alka seltzer test is good, I would think the STC folks would promote it as a way to detect alcohol, but they
don't. They say to do the water to the line test.

Probably because the folks that make Alka Seltzer would sue the living
crap out of them. This would happen because if they didn't sue and stop
the practice then the first time a plane crashes after the pilot uses
the Alka Seltzer test they would get sued for a faulty product.

The water line test works consistently and, if you have the graduated tube
from Petersen will give a fairly accurate percentage. Except for here, I
have never heard of the Alka Seltzer test.

mike

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

I think you are wise to keep on testing. If it were me, I would want to
know if the seltzer test worked as reliably as the add water test, and how
the seltzer would work on a fresh batch of alcohol.
--
Jim in NC

wrote

It would be pointless as 100% alcohol would immediately start absorbing
water from the air.

In another post I said alcohol would absorb about 2-3% by volume. A web
search gives numbers in the range of 2-4%.

I'm not disagreeing with you. I do wonder what the water content of the
pure alky is, the moment it comes out of production, though.
--
Jim in NC

In rec.aviation.owning Morgans wrote:

wrote

It would be pointless as 100% alcohol would immediately start absorbing
water from the air.

In another post I said alcohol would absorb about 2-3% by volume. A web
search gives numbers in the range of 2-4%.

I'm not disagreeing with you. I do wonder what the water content of the
pure alky is, the moment it comes out of production, though.

Probably around 5-8%.

Back in my college days I did "fermentation and chemistry experiments"
and with half-way decent temperature control that's what you get.


--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

On 2007-06-03, Peter Dohm wrote:

There are really three of issues (that I can recall) he
1) A diesel will run on any hydrocarbon fuel that it can pump and meter.
2) Different seals and hoses are compatible with different
chemicals--although it would be no surprise to find that all were compatible
with biodiesel.
3) Certified aircraft/engines require fuels authorized in the type
certificate and/or an STC.

4) Biodiesel supposedly thickens at temperatures that pilots fly in.

Though it can be corrected with additives, I would rather have heated
wings (thus tanks) to avoid additives and gain de-icing capability for
the same feature.

Has this been done before, or do de-icers only heat the leading edges
of the surface?

--
PM instructions: do a C4esar Ciph3r on my address; retain punctuation.

There's some good stuff he

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newf...ead.php?t=3242

on the heaters that are used in VW Golf bio-diesel-rated vehicles.

Don

"601XL Builder" wrDOTgiacona@suddenlinkDOTnet wrote in message ...
Blueskies wrote:


If the alka seltzer test is good, I would think the STC folks would promote it as a way to detect alcohol, but they
don't. They say to do the water to the line test.

Probably because the folks that make Alka Seltzer would sue the living crap out of them. This would happen because if
they didn't sue and stop the practice then the first time a plane crashes after the pilot uses the Alka Seltzer test
they would get sued for a faulty product.

Or....
it is a test for water....

"Justin Gombos" wrote in message
news:NnF8i.1274$Uy4.1025@trndny09...
On 2007-06-03, Peter Dohm wrote:

There are really three of issues (that I can recall) he
1) A diesel will run on any hydrocarbon fuel that it can pump and
meter.
2) Different seals and hoses are compatible with different
chemicals--although it would be no surprise to find that all were
compatible
with biodiesel.
3) Certified aircraft/engines require fuels authorized in the type
certificate and/or an STC.

4) Biodiesel supposedly thickens at temperatures that pilots fly in.

Though it can be corrected with additives, I would rather have heated
wings (thus tanks) to avoid additives and gain de-icing capability for
the same feature.

Very interesting.

Has this been done before, or do de-icers only heat the leading edges
of the surface?

I am not aware of any present application of heated wings except for
transport jets--which I believe are using bleed air. However, there was
considerable development work done by NACA during the WWII period. There
was at least one report generated involving the use of exhaust gas as the
heat source, on a twin engine aircraft, and I don't recall the specifics
except that there was concern regarding a loss of heat to one wing in the
case of an engine failure. There was also some work done, which was quite
promising, regarding the use of the wings of a liquid cooled fighter; which
would have provided wing heating as a beneficial side effect. However,
whereas the project involved combat aircraft in time of war, the concept was
rejected as making the engine cooling system too easy of a target--which was
certainly true in that instance.

BTW, I believe that the NACA reports are available on the NASA web site.