[lindgren21]

I have a secondary use for rum.  In some states they use the left overs from distillerys and spray the roads to prevent ice build up.  I have an idea but need the rum to  be in a clear form.

How do i turn a dark liquid into a clear?
Any help is appreciated.
Thx

[Arkcon]

I have a secondary use for rum.

OK.  If I had an industrial use for a food product, I might as well call the food product something else, like plain oil alcohol, or some other industrial name.  But, OK.

In some states they use the left overs from distillerys and spray the roads to prevent ice build up.

Really?  Sounds like a good idea in theory, but when rum isn't a beverage in a bottle, but instead sprayed on a road, its not harmless like a food, but a solvent, released into the environment.  It should t least make small living things drunk, that can't be good.

I have an idea but need the rum to  be in a clear form.

Why?  You want to de-ice a road.  Road salt is often grey and impure, so why should road rum not have a color?

How do i turn a dark liquid into a clear?
Any help is appreciated.
Thx

You might be able to decolorize with a large amount of activated carbon.  If you really wanted to.

[Furanone]

Depending on the purity of actual rum needed and also on whether distinct standards of identity are required, I would think one of the easier ways to make it a clearer color would be to add vodka, since both are around the 40% ethanol mark.

As Arkcon mentioned, passing it through activated carbon may lighten it, so pass it through a Brita water filter several times and see if this helps, but may also remove some of the unique aroma compounds of the rum, just so your aware in case these are still needed for your idea.

[Zyklonb]

You should tell us the application. For example, if you intend on drinking said decolorized rum, you should definitely tell us! Getting rid of the color without denaturing the rum is not the same as just getting rid of the color. Adding hydrogen peroxide would probably do a number on the color, same with chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite solution). But drinking either of these (especially the latter) would be very bad.
Distilling it would render it mostly pure alcohol and water, but this is illegal in many places without a permit (and sometimes even with). Also never use a distillation apparatus normally used for laboratory chemicals for something you're going to drink.
What's the "idea"? Just a solvent? You could also increase the concentration by salting out the ethanol with potassium carbonate, this is the easiest way without distillation. But I bet the color would remain in the alcohol layer.

[lindgren21]

You should tell us the application. For example, if you intend on drinking said decolorized rum, you should definitely tell us! Getting rid of the color without denaturing the rum is not the same as just getting rid of the color. Adding hydrogen peroxide would probably do a number on the color, same with chlorine bleach (sodium hypochlorite solution). But drinking either of these (especially the latter) would be very bad.
Distilling it would render it mostly pure alcohol and water, but this is illegal in many places without a permit (and sometimes even with). Also never use a distillation apparatus normally used for laboratory chemicals for something you're going to drink.
What's the "idea"? Just a solvent? You could also increase the concentration by salting out the ethanol with potassium carbonate, this is the easiest way without distillation. But I bet the color would remain in the alcohol layer.

The application is for snow removal. The liquid I use is a by-product of a rum...  I like to use this product after I have removed snow from a customers driveway and then spray this product before I leave so I dont have to return to said customers to clear a "dusting" of snow... 

The only problem is the product is dark and looks like a diarrhea accident has been left all over the driveway.  Customers dont like that...

I will try adding hydrogen peroxide to a small batch and see what happens.

Thanks for your input and let me know if you have any other suggestions.

[Arkcon]

So you're not using rum, but the distillation "bottoms" of rum production?  That's bizarre.  How do you have enough to cover a driveway?  The typical fluid de-icer, that's environmentally safe, is proplyene glycol:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De-ice#Fluid_types

[Corribus]

looks like a diarrhea accident has been left all over the driveway.  Customers dont like that...

You don't say??

Why don't you just use salt?

(Speaking to the actual topic, hydrogen peroxide or bleach are your best inexpensive bets. But: I don't know much about the de-icing powers of rum byproducts, but if you start adding other chemicals to it, you may destroy the de-icing powers OR cause side problems your customers or local authorities don't want. E.g., bleach may do the trick, but I don't know that many people will want it running off into their lawns, and local and state laws may have something to say about spraying oxidizing chemicals all over driverways.)

[curiouscat]

Why don't you just use salt?

I remember a particularly cold MidWest Winter (2008-2009 I think) when a lot of municipalities exhausted their salt
stockpiles pretty early. Salt's cheap but apparently the supply is quite inelastic.  And demand is highly correlated across geography.

If projections go wrong then getting salt can become tricky.

In that context trying out alternative deicers may not be entirely a fool's errand. Besides, although salt is indeed very cheap a lot of these by products are very cheap too. 

I remember Wisconsin / Minnesota had a few pilot projects that tried beet juice. Not sure how that turned out. On the plus side these wastes can be biodegradable and don't contribute to salt runoff into lakes. I'm not sure if they add adversely to the BOD though.

Oh, one other thing is that salt stops working effectively as a road anti-ice below a certain temperature. I'm not sure if any of these bio-waste deicers would work to colder temperatures? Or not? Might be something to investigate.

[curiouscat]

I will try adding hydrogen peroxide to a small batch and see what happens.

My experience with H2O2 says it works very well usually. It won't work so well directly but look up Fenton's Reagent. That needs adding a catalytic quantity of FeSO4 and that can do magic to the activity of H2O2.

Problem is that H2O2 is pretty indiscriminate at what it oxidizes. In your case there must be a lot of soluble sugars in that waste slop. In fact, you need those to do the anti-ice activity (I think).

So you need H2O2 to selectively oxidize away the colored matter but not waste itself on destroying those sugars too. That might be tricky. You'll have to experiment. Might be possible since the color imparting matter is often in trace quantities. 

[curiouscat]

On a lighter (darker?) note I wonder if Copenhagen Airport guys laid their hands on your "brown diarrhea"

[lindgren21]

Lol

[billnotgatez]

They do not use salt at airports.

Maybe we are going the wrong way with this problem.

Why not make the stuff black so it does not look like S--- Brown?

[Corribus]

They do not use salt at airports.

True, but not for any reason related to efficiency of deicing. It would damage aircraft (corrosion, abrasion).

[lindgren21]

Why not make the stuff black so it does not look like S--- Brown?

This is going to be used for residential snow removal purposes.  It cant appear like S--- brown or black.  Its not appealing to the customer...

[curiouscat]

They do not use salt at airports.

For tarmac or for planes?