Well after 19 hrs the aluminum foil is unchanged…If the lower condensate were caustic it would have deteriorated the foil by now…
There may be something in the woodgas itself that will deteriorate it,but I don’t think its the condensate…
Will see with some more test …
Hi Johnny,
Thanks for testing this. I’ve also got the same test running, same results so far.
One more test, whenever you’re finished with that piece, lay it out somewhere and take a picture, then come back after a week or so and see if there’s any change. I wonder if oxygen has an effect here.
Oh, does anyone have some litmus paper? I’d be very curious to see a PH test on the condensate. Anything caustic enough to eat aluminum should produce a strong reading.
One thing to note is that “Aluminum” foil is not nearly the same alloys as Aluminum piping would be and may react differently. I believe store-bought foil still has lots of Tin in it for example. This would be solved by using Steve’s “test what you plan to use” methods.
I hadn’t thought about it before but you may be on to something in that it is the woodgas itself, not the condensate, doing the damage. I might have some of my chemistry terms mixed up… I’m pretty sure that CO2 is a “neutral” compound in that it is ionically “happy”/stable. Stripping off that Oxygen atom would unbalance the ionic equation which is why CO is so reactive/flamable. The same probably happen with H2O->H2 reaction, I’m almost sure because that is what happens in electrical electrolisis of water for “Brown’s Gas”.
Thanks for mentioning that Brian …I have some cast aluminum and regular aluminum , I will throw them in and see what it does also…
But aluminum foil does react well with caustic stuff regardless of the amount of tin it…
For the sake of covering all the angles I will test several types of aluminum …
Getting to it now …
Different alloy perhaps, but there’s no tin in aluminum foil.
“The term “tin foil” survives in the English language as a term for the newer aluminium foil. Tin foil is less malleable than aluminium foil and tends to give a slight tin taste to food wrapped in it. Tin foil has been supplanted by aluminium and other materials for wrapping food.”
“Aluminium foil is produced by rolling sheet ingots cast from molten billet aluminium…”
Alrighty then. That seems like more evidence towards Johnny’s gas composistion hypothisis.
If you could use a box cutter to shave off a thin piece it would give a more obvious result quicker.
Acidic or caustic. It doesn’t matter much. It’s both agressive to metal, especially when also high temperature is involved, your gas is tar free and the gasifier is not used frequently. I’ve seen deep pitting in stainless steel 304. Clean gas, but not used very often. Rest rusts.
Tiny, my lawnmower, is used often, makes tarry gas, but the mild steel doesn’t rust at all. Only the aluminium gas throttle is slowly eaten away over the years.
Regards,
DJ