Re: Peat filtration.

[Doug Brown <debrown@kodak.com>]

Peat, despite being a solid, has a pH associated with it. Canadian sphagnum
peat has a typical pH of 3 to 5. This is the pH that will be obtained when
the peat is put in distilled or RO water. BTW, I think some of you are
confusing sphagnum moss with sphagnum peat moss. The moss grows in trees,
the peat moss is the dead stuff on the ground (actually in peat bogs)
composed primarily but not entirely of decomposing sphagnum moss. Also,
only the top few millimeters of peat moss are harvested from peat bogs
(using giant vacuums), so what you buy in the stores is "young" peat often
estimated at 8% or so decomposed.

Especially in young peat, the organic acid functional groups will be
connected to long molecular chains and hence are not part of soluble
solids. Boiling peat will remove some tannic and other acids - some of this
occurs simply from hydrolysis which is from the boiling aiding in
decomposition. However, the increased surface area obtained from removing
all the air from the peat might more than make up for what you lose. If you
want peat to have the quickest effect possible on pH and hardness boiling
is probably the way to go.

Hope this helps.

-Doug Brown
debrown@kodak.com



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