A hazardous waste recycler will take the old fuel - its just a question of
how much they will charge to take it off your hands. It still represents a
waste that would have to be tested to be sure what it is (that could easily
cost $200-$400 just for the testing) and then it would have to be disposed
of, most likely by incineration.
In this case, the water for the most part should be a separate layer. You
should be able to pour off the top fuel layer, treat it with methanol, and
burn it in a gas guzzling car. The water layer can be cleaned just by
letting it sit and letting the gas evaporate over a period of time.
Evaporation is a common way to remove gas from groundwater - actually its
removed by aeration of the water to strip out the volatile components. Not
totally safe from a purist environmentalist stand point but it is the
method in use.
My former 71BGT actually disposed of quite a bit of hazardous wastes in its
day, including a drum of ethylene dibromide. But thats another story. Just
a throwback to my days as an environmental chemist and too many
post-apocalyptic movies.
David Councill
At 08:34 AM 1/11/01 -0600, R. O. Lindsay wrote:
> David makes a valid argument (thanks) and I did burn the old fuel in
>my '79 "B", with methyl alcohol added to make the water miscible.
>There was very little water in the tank (1/2 pint?). However, my '70
>B-GT has been under water and the tank has a gallon or two of river
>water mixed in with the 3/8 tank of gasoline. So I have five or six gallons
>of contaminated fuel that is beyond burnable in an engine. Unfortunately,
>it would work great as a accelerant to burn anything else -- like my house!
> The recyclers here in Tulsa are privately operated so they can
>specify what they will take and what they won't. I haven't found one
>that will take old fuel. Perhaps I need a gasoline fired garage heater?!
>
>
>Rick
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