I know this isnt the right forum, Urea in diesel fuel

[stumiister]

I know this isnt the right forum but I'm sure this forum will help me.
Who can tell me how to remove UREA from diesel fuel?
I have about 200gls of urea contaminated diesel and I'd like to use but the urea is made up of water and another corrisive chemical.
Urea is badfor the fuel systeem it will ruin the pup and injectors.
As one of my bosses drivers did it to a Detriot DD15 engine.

 

['94IDITurbo7.3]

dump the fuel out and put new fuel in. to my knowledge you can't separate two fluids in a situation like this.

 

[stumiister]

The fuel is in barrels sitting in the shop I wanted to use if I could find a way to filter the urea from the fuel.

 

[chris142]

Maybe you could boil it out? Prolly cost more than its worth

 

[stumiister]

Maybe you could boil it out? Prolly cost more than its worth

Didnt think of that but thats alot to boil.

 

[icanfixall]

Try burning it off... I'm wondering how the urea got into the fuel.. Did some driver think it needed to be added to the fuel tank... About the only way you can get it out of the diesel is to run it thru the same distillation processits made thru. It can be done but you will need a vacuum pump to maintain a vacuum on the small distalation tower. The a condenser for the overheads. Then a small pump to feed the fuel into the tower. Then a heat source to heat up the rebioler at the bottom of the tower. A feed rate is figured out. Then you start the feed. The diesel will fractionate just as it enters the tower colume. The lites go up.. That would be the urea and water. The heavies go down and out the bottom. The bottoms are what you want to save... If you are feeding used motor oil the overheads are what you will be saving.. If your drying up fuel or oil the water is what will come off the top or overhead. A cromategraph would really be nice to have so you would know what the samples are looking like. Of course you will need to understand the operation of all thses neet items. I once worked in a chemical refinery doing all this stuff. I really enjoyed seeing the lab distallation testing facilitys too. It was all pyrex glass but the same thing we had at the plant.. Just much smaller. Our tallest tower was 120 ft. In the lab it was around 5 ft tall and 4 inch diameter...

 

[RLDSL]

How the heck did this happen? did someones bull get his winkie stuck in a fuel tank

Seriously, sounds like someone dumped the stuff straight into a big trucks saddle tank at that quantity, About all you could do with that stuff is burn it off in a heater. Something like that isnt going to care what you dump into it.

 

[stumiister]

The driver did it.
Gary sounds like I should build a stil to refine the fuel

 

[Idi93]

The best thing is to just get new fuel. Diesel exhaust fluid(urea) will crystallize in diesel fuel and take out any component it runs through(pump, injectors, sensors, and if run long enough, the motor). I personally wouldnt use the contaminated fuel for anything more than bonfire starter fluid.

 

[kc0stp]

The best thing is to just get new fuel. Diesel exhaust fluid(urea) will crystallize in diesel fuel and take out any component it runs through(pump, injectors, sensors, and if run long enough, the motor). I personally wouldnt use the contaminated fuel for anything more than bonfire starter fluid.

+1 for the time/money itd take to filter it properly its cheaper just to throw it out (even with $4/gal diesel prices)

 

[icanfixall]

The above postings are spot on. Its a shame to loose that much fuel but concider what it will do to your fuel system. Then figure if you could run al of it without completely ruining the injecters and pump. then change out the pump and injecters with new. Now if you had a couple of spare used pumps and a bucket of used injecters.. I say go for it. Free parts to run and free 200 gallons of fuel... Thats what I may have tried to do. Urea is cow *****. It will etch metals that it contacts. Might even eat up the tanks too.

 

[idi_econoline]

My boss's 2014(??) bobtail just arrived. I'll keep his DEF topped, just to prevent him from touching a jug.

The driver of our 2013 rig calls it ATF. I keep his hands off the jugs also.

 

[riotwarrior]

My boss's 2014(??) bobtail just arrived. I'll keep his DEF topped, just to prevent him from touching a jug.

The driver of our 2013 rig calls it ATF. I keep his hands off the jugs also.

An old BOSS of mine once provided me one of the most important thoughts in life....

Stupid People shouldn't Breathe!

Then one day...he made a bad boo boo on a puter, hence I asked him if his theory still stood, He bought me a beer n said ****...

 

[stumiister]

Ive tried googling this but I got nothing.
I will have to call my lube supplier and see what they say and they may even refer me to a tech line for Chevron

 

[laserjock]

The only chance you probably have is to do a liquid extraction with water. The urea will dissolve into the water then let the mixture stand. The water will separate from the fuel pulling the urea with it. It will take a fair amount of water probably like 50/50 to the fuel. Probably should do two or three extractions (pour the water and diesel into a bucket and shake the hell out of it. Once you do the extractions, you will probably have to dry the fuel some more. Look up biodiesel processing. I would say this is analogous to the washing process required to produce high quality biodiesel via transesterification. In that case you are removing the residual lye, triglycerides and water.

The problem is, I'm not sure how to tell you to test the fuel after the extractions to make sure you got it all. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to test the pH of the wash water. Urea should make it basic I think. If the water is the same pH before the wash and after, it's probably done all it can do.

Not saying this is fool proof or even recommended, but I think it's the only reasonable chance you may have.

Good luck.