Gasohol

On Sat, 2 Jun 2007 22:16:03 -0400, "Morgans"
wrote:

How sure are we that the gasohol in service station tanks contain no water?

It's pretty sure to contain some water, at least some of the time,
especially in summer and especially in the east. As the tank is drawn
down, air is going to replace what's been pumped out. That air is
going to contain some water, which will be absorbed in time by the
alcohol.


Is it possible that all tanks containing gasohol contain at least some water
dissolved?

See above.


Is it a certainty that the alcohol added to gasoline contains no dissolved
water?

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

Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Claire Chennault and His American Volunteers, 1941-1942
forthcoming from HarperCollins www.flyingtigersbook.com

"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.

"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....

MSNBC story about bad gas at a walmart in Louisville.

The "regular" stuff turned out to be 80% water and some diesel???


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18950569/

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"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


I don't know whether they do any initial distillation, to get to
approximately the 60% (or 120 proof) level, but the rest is apparently now
done by filtration through molecular sieves. The process is far less
expensive than distillation and achieves about 99% purity.

Various sources are offering a variety of grades of pure ethanol, up to
99.9%--although that does get expensive. Here is just one of the many links
that I found with Google:
http://www.alibaba.com/catalog/11549..._Grade_Bio_Eth
anol.html

Peter