pH only is defined in the presence of water. anhyrous ethanol has no pH.
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Have you been measuring the specific gravity of the new and recovered alcohol? That is, are you sure you need drying service?
Did you know 190 proof is considered a better solvent for this operation?
What if you’re paying someone to make your solvent a little less good 
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simple queries are often the best
https://future4200.com/search?q=Reproof
190 is better (holds less fats/waxes) See: Iso vs ethonal for explanation.
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As soon as he exposes that 200 proof to the atmosphere it starts pulling water, right?
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yes, for sure. I think it has to be like 10% to have a definitive pH though.
edit: definitive as in measurable. Of course any water present will undergo dissociation into OH and H.
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Thank you for the feedback!
I do know that 190 proof assists with the winterization process however where I am located we are supposed to be using anhydrous Ethanol. If we do need to adjust the proof we need to add distilled water on our own so that we know the source of the water being added. I know that pretty much as soon as you expose Ethanol to air it will absorb moisture but we need to be sure that the 5% moisture is coming from an uncontaminated source and not just from the air or moisture that was introduced from previous CO2 runs. There is a strict policy against contaminants from different lots where I am located.
Long story short, we need to refine our Ethanol as much as possible and bring it as close to 99.99% as as we can.
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have you asked your supplier what THEY are doing?
(guessing distillation, then filtration over carbon. maybe molsieves to bump the proof)
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I don’t believe they would want to share that information as refining Ethanol is where most of their profits come from. Just a tricky situation because of all the government requirements needed to be put in place where I am located.
I am hoping that if I can affectively refine the Ethanol in house, it would no longer contain any contaminants (Terps, Water, Trace Elements, Ect) and once sent or testing I can have it approved for continual use.
It’s your lucky day friend, @cyclopath lended credibility to your process, likely without realizing!
I would stop paying those jabronis today
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Probably nothing. They probably use different columns and equipment but I think column packing and sieve beads is the only way to go.
we did an in-house test on this a couple months ago, using a very fancy proofing meter (electronic, not the bobber in a column). We found that 200-proof does indeed absorb some water once it’s opened, but very little and at a very low rate. We left both caps off of a 55gal barrel, new from our supplier, and after a 3 hours of being left open, sampled every hour, it got no lower than 99.5%. And that’s in Humboldt Co. CA, very close to the bay and very humid in general.
I’d love to know if anyone else has run similar tests, and if their results corroborate or disagree with ours
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Don’t use CO2 extraction for making distillate!
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I’d ask. It might surprise you. I’m wondering if @GasLogix-Adam or @BigM want to chime in. Certainly this prices isn’t crazily proprietary, is it? What’s your experience?
I’m interested in following this
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Lab tours are my favorite. In I’m just down the 299 in Trinity. If you ever want a lookyloo , let me know.
Our processing facility is only for hydrocarbons so unfortunately I’m no help here. Interesting thread though. We’ve been looking into recapturing and recleaning dirty gas from facilities that want to ensure they’re always starting pure. If you’re working with someone that actually does the processing versus just repackaging/reselling then I’d assume the capability is there and it’s just a matter of whether the logistics make financial sense.
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This is one of the industrial all-in-one systems.
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We get our ethanol already ready already from our supplier, so we don’t need to do any purification in-house. We do carry 3A, 4A, and 10A molseive to help re-proof by removing moisture and possibly other contaminates depending on which seive size you choose.
If high purity is the goal, I would think fractional distillation through a packed column with lots of theoretical plates would be the final step. After coming out of the roto pass it through some carbon and clay, then toss in the molseive to dry, followed by the final fractional distillation.
Depending on the impurities you’re trying to remove, some level of vacuum during distillation may prove very helpful. In-house analytics will be very helpful of course in fine tuning your process. The main difference between what @ReeferRep was doing before and what a large processor would do would be the scale.
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This ^^^^
The SRI GC 310MM is a great tool for this.
With the packed column and appropriate temp profile you can check most of the solvents we commonly use for purity. Down to ppm levels.
In the case of terpenes in ethanol, you would probably need to use the other column (mxt-500 in the case of the 310 MM), and if you find a used unit with a TCD, you can also look at water content (I’ve been told).
@anon64373531 is correct that an maratek automagic recycler may be a viable option, for you.
you’ll find some useful discussion on the subject behind
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Thank you for all the amazing feedback!
Going forward I think we will be conducting a case study to determine how affectively we can reproof our Ethanol in house utilizing the methods above.
I will update this post down the road once we have implemented a standard procedure for ethanol reuse.
Thanks again!
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