if the water emulsifies...the water separator will not trap it...it will appear as a Vaseline looking substance on you filters..eventually clogging them.

 

No offense, but not even close.

Settling alone will never be enough to dry biodiesel. It can look crystal clear, but can contain dissolved water. In fact, since biodiesel is hygroscopic, properly dried biodiesel can absorb enough moisture from the atmosphere to potentially cause problems down the line. You need to be below 500ppm moisture.

I have been water washing for over 10 years and use a combination of bubbling and modified pump washing. It works for me, my fuel is great, and I currently have no desire to move to any form of dry washing. I would estimate with each 40 gallon batch, I use around 30-40 gallons of water over the course of the wash process. Then I test for soap content before proceeding to the drying process.
I use a heated spray dry process and utilize the WHW method of testing moisture content to below 500ppm.

Here's a couple links you might want to look over before proceeding: http://www.make-biodiesel.org/Water-...biodiesel.html http://www.make-biodiesel.org/Qualit...er-in-wvo.html

 

just throwing this out there as a curiosity statement.

once the conversion from meth oxide + plant oil to biodiesel occurs, you are looking at let say 1 gallon of b100 with 30% of the methonal you used remaining in the biodiesl with the other 70% trapped in the sludge. 7oz of meth oxide in the biodiesel and 14oz in the sudge.

so take the 1 gallon of b100 and mix with 4 gallons of regular #2 diesel and you now have 5 gallons of b20.

each gallon (128 oz) would have 1,4 oz of metho oxide .

this is less than 1% meth oxide

would this not just evaporate?

or couldn't you just let it sit in a dry environment (open 5 gallon container / dehumidifier garage)) over night so that the 1% evaporates.

do we think that this 1% would bond with water absorbed hydrostatically and cuase gelling and clogging of filters?

I've never had this happen and I have been running home brew B20 for years and never found any gelling in my filters.

Me personally thinks that at b20, what ever remaining methonal will just evaporate and theres no need for washing and such.

please educate me.

thanks

 

Eventually it would evaporate. But by doing this, you haven't addressed the removal of the other by-product which is soaps, which is the primary reason for washing. Yes, most of the soaps is in the glycerin which is separated after reaction, but there's still a good amount of it in the unwashed biodiesel. Enough that it will over time, congeal on the filter. When burned, it leaves behind ash residue which can accumulate in the injectors and combustion chamber.

Evaporating or distilling the remaining methanol however, will allow the soaps to drop out more easily, but you still have to separate the soap fallout. Most of those who dry wash use the evaporation/distilling method of removing methanol before running the biodiesel through the wood chips, magnesol, or other media, to remove the soaps. Water washing, which I do, removes the remaining methanol fairly quickly. It works for me, and I have no inclination to invest in more supplies and equipment to dry wash.

I've gotten lazy, and don't test for soaps as often as I used to. Mainly because my wvo source is consistently the same all the time. So is my process. Always titrates .25 KOH.

Anyhow, moisture, methanol, and soaps all have to be virtually non-existent in properly finished biodiesel.

 

Just wondering where you guys get your methanol from? I can't find any for less than $9-10 a gallon.

 

sounds about right.

a gallon is good for about 6 gallons of biodiesel

and if you want to put in the effort, you can reclaim a lot of it for the next batch.

 

I buy mine here: https://www.tarrllc.com/ I purchase 55 gallon drums. Out the door I pay $238.00 It comes out to about $3.50 per gallon, net cost.

But with fees, taxes, and surcharges it comes out to about $4.30 per gallon.

 

that's not bad at all! Thanks for the lead.
do you ship it from them or are you local? If you do freight what's the cost if you don't mind sharing?

 

The only bad thing is I know people get it cheaper than that. With it at $10 a gallon that makes B100 come to at least $2 a gallon. I'm hoping to get it closer to $1 a gallon.

I've read that you can get about 20-30% back, is that about right or do you see more or less?

 

I'm only about a half hour away. I pull up and they load it right into the bed.
There's gotta be a place in your area that carries it. I did a search and there's a place in Louisville called Univar. Might be worth a call.

 

That's perfect I go to Louisville once a month. How did you find them?

 

I just googled 'Univar'. I used to purchase from a Univar here, but the business moved.