diesel exhaust fluid in diesel

[Blitz Omenz]

Here is a picture of the drum with def in it.
I took some metal from this piece that i cut off a car and cleaned off all the paint.
I drilled a hole in the metal and ran some welding wire through it. I also grabbed some scrap copper pipe and put them both in the barrel.
The copper pipe is running from the top to the bottom and the bare steel is hanging at the halfway mark. To see if it eats them up. See if the diesel is safe.

 

[Blitz Omenz]

As an extra test, I bought a gallon of diesel and a gallon of def.
I got a clean paint cup and added 16 ounces of diesel to it.
When i added 10 ounces of def they stirred up but settled really quickly. If you look, The ounces still match what i added of each. Nothing mixed. It all settled.
If you look closely there are bubbles on the surface of the def. There were more but i didn't take a picture fast enough. They all popped like the diesel wasn't there. Nothing came to the surface.
The copper seamed to start reacting but only at the def line.
I'm waiting for my centrifuge, so I'll leave this sit for a week or two and see if anything happens in the diesel area to them before I do anything. Both for the drum and this sample test. I kind of wanted to see if the diesel changed colors or reacted but nothing. Looks the same. Time will tell.

 

[Blitz Omenz]

I also noticed that the diesel I bought is green and the drum's diesel is red. Could be an additive mixed with it or it could be that he was running on none taxed red diesel. Doesn't matter just thought it was interesting. I noticed it when I poured the 16 ounces.

 

[Keith_J]

Road diesel often has a few percent biodiesel which dramatically increases water dissolution in the diesel as the fatty acid methyl ester acts as a detergent. It is resistant to filtration, salting out (adding brine to an organic phase to remove water) and drying agents. The only way to remove entrained water is heat.
Water in biodiesel causes oxidation reactions with most metals, this is death to injection systems.

If the fuel isn't crystal clear, don't risk it. Always store an engine for more than a week with fresh fuel.

 

[CARNAC]

I hope the person/people who developed DEF die a horribly painful death.

 

[teletech]

I'm happy to see your scientific approach.
I think accurate measurement of the DEF before adding diesel is key, if the volume of DEF really stays the same, then just decant and go.

View attachment 721662 As an extra test, I bought a gallon of diesel and a gallon of def.
View attachment 721663 I got a clean paint cup and added 16 ounces of diesel to it.
View attachment 721664 When i added 10 ounces of def they stirred up but settled really quickly. If you look, The ounces still match what i added of each. Nothing mixed. It all settled.
View attachment 721665 If you look closely there are bubbles on the surface of the def. There were more but i didn't take a picture fast enough. They all popped like the diesel wasn't there. Nothing came to the surface.
View attachment 721666 The copper seamed to start reacting but only at the def line.
I'm waiting for my centrifuge, so I'll leave this sit for a week or two and see if anything happens in the diesel area to them before I do anything. Both for the drum and this sample test. I kind of wanted to see if the diesel changed colors or reacted but nothing. Looks the same. Time will tell.

 

[Blitz Omenz]

View attachment 727775 I've been meaning to upload these pictures for a few weeks now. I bought a heater for the drum and heated it to 170 F.
View attachment 727776It made everything settle. You can see all the way to the bottom. Nice and clear and clean.
View attachment 727777The steel plate had no corrosion and was perfectly clean. The copper pipe was clean all the way to the bottom where you can see the def reacted to it.
View attachment 727778I ended up pumping all the clean stuff from the top to a few inches away from the def. I didn't want to take the chance of sucking up def. Then I disposed of the def and finally got my centrifuge in and hooked up to the drum I pumped all the clean stuff to. I ended up using some air hose temporarily for the connections. No auto parts store had any that I could find. So I just ordered some online.
View attachment 727779I poured in about 15 gallons of used oil and heated it all to 170 F for 9 hours while my centrifuge was running. Got a little sludge but nothing to bad. I pumped it into my truck twice now with my fuel pump that's like the one farmers have on their auxiliary fuel tanks in the back of their trucks. Between the hose and the pump are my 30 micron and 5 micron filters and a fuel water separator before it pumps it into my fuel tank. I have about 20 gallons left of it in my truck. I'm already working on a new drum I grabbed that is labeled 3/17 diesel. Separated the nasty stuff (water or def) on the bottom from the top and it left me with almost 35 gallons of something that smells and looks like gas diesel mix. I'm going to centrifuge it tomorrow.
So far it looks like it's safe and clean to use it. Just heat it to help separate it and stay away from the def by a few inches for good measure. I got greedy on this new drum and pumped an inch away from the water or def at the bottom and it pumped a little in to my centrifuge drum (about a inch of the stuff in my drum). I just pumped it back out. Even when I fill my truck from the drum I always stay a few inches from the bottom. Just to be safe. Everything near the top is really clean.