A week or so ago, I got about a litre of DEF (Diesel exhaust fluid) from a trucker. I measured out approximately 500ml into my vision saucepan, marked
the level on the side with a Sharpie and simmered it until one third of the liquid was gone. Set it off the heat and covered it with a towel (my house
is DUSTY). The next morning there was an almost solid mass of beautiful snow white urea. No filtering, no muss, no fuss!
After a couple days drying at room temp on a paper towel covered plate the yield was 155gms. I wish I had a functional camera at the moment so I
could post a picture!
The jug that it came from, TRCair UltraPure DEF, contains 9.46 litres full,giving an EASILY obtainable yield of almost 3 kilos (2923gms) of Urea.
This product is available at Tractor Supplu stores in my area (Texarkana, USA) for $8.99, making the cost $3.00 a kilo for pure Urea!
This is a big plus for me, as I was obtaining urea from fertilizer and it comes in prills dyed green. Big pain in the ass requiring multiple
recrystallizations to get rid of green dye, and still never comes out snow white. I had used it for Chemplayers Citrazinic Acid synth and got crappy
results. Going try again with this BEAUTIFUL snow white Urea! woelen - 1-11-2017 at 07:32
Sounds interesting. What is diesel exhaust fluid? I never heard of this. Maybe it is something unknown where I live, but if you can make urea from
this easily then that would be interesting for me as well.
Where I live, you can buy urea prills, but they are very dirty. If you add them to water, you get a turbid liquid with a lot of pale yellow/brown scum
on it and it is a pain in the ass to make pure crystalline urea from this. I always end up with some pasty/sticky off-white stuff. It seems like the
urea is mixed with some greasy or oily stuff which is very hard to separate. Probably this stuff is added to the urea to keep it more or less free
flowing, also when stored in a cold and humid barn.Melgar - 1-11-2017 at 08:10
Urea solution can be sprayed into diesel exhaust to neutralize NOx vapors. Tractor trailers are too big to have catalytic converters, after all.wg48 - 1-11-2017 at 08:47
In the UK you tend to find the empty containers discarded at lay bys and lorry parking areas. Until I looked it up I did wonder why diesel engines
needed urea. Yes it could be a cheap source of pure urea. You can ocasionaly see big dump bags of urea at farms or see them being transported to
farms. The urea in them looks pure white a coarse powder.
Don’t forget the bulk de-ices. They are starting to appear in the shops.Tsjerk - 1-11-2017 at 11:55
@Woelen; DEF is sold in the Netherlands as AdBlue, for around 1,50 a liter.NEMO-Chemistry - 1-11-2017 at 12:01
This is the stuff that was added to cars to pass the emission tests, alot of cars have/had a tiny tank of it, when in a test the ecu turns it on and
the emissions are lowered. I never understood why this isnt a main feature, except on the TV program about VW being prosecuted, they mentioned damage
to engines because the exhaust gas goes back into the engine first, via something called a EGR or something
Ok I got it very slightly wrong, this explains it, apparently alot of cars have this but few people I assume know about it, the stuff is called ad
blue in the UK. Anyone in the UK will know the VW story
[Edited on 1-11-2017 by NEMO-Chemistry]Morgan - 1-11-2017 at 13:18
"Made from high purity urea and deionized water
Contains no chemical additives or other compounds that could cause SCR system failure
Meets the quality standards established by the ISO-22241-1 for Diesel Exhaust Fluid
Certified by the American Petroleum Institute" http://www.autozone.com/miscellaneous-cleaners-and-degreaser...
I wasn't aware there was a urea shortage among amateur chemists.
Indeed...It took me a bit to source some, but I found a few local sources for urea and I don't imagine running out. Looking forward to some amide
experiments soon, hopefully...Vosoryx - 1-11-2017 at 15:25
"This is 99+% urea for use in gold recovery process, fertilizer and neutralizing acid in aqua regia. It is a colorless, odorless solid, although its
gives off a strong ammonia smell in the presence of water. It is highly soluble in water and practically non-toxic. Dissolved in water it has a
neutral ph. It is a convenient source of nitrogen when used as fertilizer."
Price:US $11.45
