I've been using caustic water (made with ash lye) as the ingredient for some detergents, so that the resulting graywater is biodegradable and useful for irrigation. I haven't had much trouble with it for some time, given that the soil I'm working on is somewhat acidic, so the potassium carbonates in the water helped alkalinize it.
However, it has started to buildup, so now the pH will begin to go up. To solve this, I've begun to ferment some leftover sugar products to make alcohol, then turn the alcohol into acetic acid, using mother of vinegar (I know sugars are themselves acidic, but this process makes them even more so and its completely hands-off), then adding it to the soil to compensate for the lye.
So far so good, but such solution is pretty limited and requires a sugar feedstock. So my question is this:
You know of any acids that are easy to make/obtain? (I've been thinking about using anaerobic bacteria to mass produce carboxylic acids).
However, it has started to buildup, so now the pH will begin to go up. To solve this, I've begun to ferment some leftover sugar products to make alcohol, then turn the alcohol into acetic acid, using mother of vinegar (I know sugars are themselves acidic, but this process makes them even more so and its completely hands-off), then adding it to the soil to compensate for the lye.
So far so good, but such solution is pretty limited and requires a sugar feedstock. So my question is this:
You know of any acids that are easy to make/obtain? (I've been thinking about using anaerobic bacteria to mass produce carboxylic acids).
