Cold ethanol distillation

[Vickers]

Been doing some very promising experiments with this. Trying to engineer it as simple, easy, free and as low maintenance as I can.

It works undoubtedly but needs a little fine tuning to make it simpler for everyday household use. Which I hope someone here can help me with.

We know that alcohol based fuel is colorless like water.
Need a cheap dye (coloring agent) to color alcohol in a dilute solution of water to aid in the separation process. ie make the alcohol a different color from the water.

Tried all kinds. Food coloring, ink etc.. But need something that has an affinity for alcohol alone.

Appreciate any input.

[Sputins]

Not likely.

Vickers,

I asked for you.. I asked the resident chemistry guru, the supervisor of the "general chemistry" department at my workplace. He says its going to be very difficult. He knew of nothing off hand. As the ethanol is soluble in water the dye soluble in ethanol would also be soluble in the water..
Tough one, not saying that there isn't somthing, but chances are you wont find anything..

I gather you are vacuum distilling the ethanol. This is a very worthy effort. I would be interested in a small set-up myself for fuel purposes.. I have a vacuum pump too.. I gather you are familiar with David Bloom's work?

Good luck with it..!

[Stealth]

Almost all oils are immensible in water. You could dye the oil, then pour into the solution, if not too diluted, it might attach to the fuel,while rejecting immension in the water. Good Luck. Stealth

[john_g]

Been doing some very promising experiments with this. Trying to engineer it as simple, easy, free and as low maintenance as I can.

It works undoubtedly but needs a little fine tuning to make it simpler for everyday household use. Which I hope someone here can help me with.

We know that alcohol based fuel is colorless like water.
Need a cheap dye (coloring agent) to color alcohol in a dilute solution of water to aid in the separation process. ie make the alcohol a different color from the water.

Tried all kinds. Food coloring, ink etc.. But need something that has an affinity for alcohol alone.

Appreciate any input.

Hi Vickers

There may be a clue in the items used for checking for water in avaition fuel. Most are like a litmas paper that changes colour when water rather than fuel is present.

example:
The Shell Water Detector - Shell Aviation

Regards
John

[Guruji]

Vacuum distilling?

Vickers,

I asked for you.. I asked the resident chemistry guru, the supervisor of the "general chemistry" department at my workplace. He says its going to be very difficult. He knew of nothing off hand. As the ethanol is soluble in water the dye soluble in ethanol would also be soluble in the water..
Tough one, not saying that there isn't somthing, but chances are you wont find anything..

I gather you are vacuum distilling the ethanol. This is a very worthy effort. I would be interested in a small set-up myself for fuel purposes.. I have a vacuum pump too.. I gather you are familiar with David Bloom's work?

Good luck with it..!

Hi Vickers how do you do vacuum distilling?
Thanks

[Vickers]

Not doing vacuum distillation. But could be utilized and integrated with a little imagination.
Basically utilizing the common household freezer to remove most of water content. Not 100 percent efficient at separation BUT u can recycle the weak alcohol ice mix to next mash. The freezer wont use any more power than usual.
Transfer unfrozen liquid to onboard vehicle pressure cooker still ( radiator) What was in there in the first place? Water and ethanol based anti freeze.

So we are replacing it with almost the same thing for nothing.

We need hole in top radiator, a tube, a cheap old diesel injector screwed into air inlet wired to points or injectors or stand alone pulsed with a little imagination for max efficiency.