Dear Paul ,
I did many times fusions with pure KOH . At 350° C it melts and is very aggesive to dissolve ceramics Al2O3 and SiC powders . (Diamond recup. ) It is verry verry hygroscopic and the hydroxyde airosols with water in the air gives your nose sense alcalic . Your brain makes the link to urine . but not the real potasium make it . It goes not into gas but sputers airosols has a special creep effect out of a creuset .! Even after cooling . Also a battery and fuel cel with KOH . It creeps in a isolated conductor for 20 cm after years ,and destroys manny apparati . KOH Is colourless but Nickel gives yellow.salts . It does not become K2O2 becouse to destroy SiC we must ad Na2O2 to oxydize the carbide . Potasium is to measure with flame spectro 440 um purple colour in a hydrogen flame . (Sodium =yellow . Cupper =green Sr =red Sorry ,I drink no coffe ! But have a friend who drinks pee . Regards Frans _____ Van: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Namens Paul Olivier Verzonden: zaterdag 15 oktober 2011 9:07 Aan: Discussion of biomass cooking stoves CC: Will Rutherford; loren cardeli; CHRISTA ROTH Onderwerp: [Stoves] why does coffee husk biochar smell like urine? Christa, Do you have any idea why coffee husk biochar smells like urine? I just read that coffee husks contain 36% to 38% K2O. This supposedly accounts for the low melting point of its ash. That its ash has a low melting point makes sense to me, since, if I leave the fan on a bit too long after the gasification cycle is finished, I see a stony yellowish/white ash at the bottom of the reactor. How is this possible that coffee husks could have so much K2O? What happens to the K2O when it is subjected to heat? I see that K2O has a melting point > 350C. If subjected to heat does it turn into K2O2 or even KO2? At what point does it turn into a gas? Does the presence of K2O account for its urine smell? What does this urine smell mean with regard to the value of coffee husk biochar? Would coffee husk biochar be rich in potassium? Paul -- Paul A. Olivier 27C Pham Hong Thai Street Dalat Vietnam
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