I was just curious if it would work to heat the oil to say 150ish and use magnesol to remove the water instead of boiling it off. I don't see why it wouldn't and would be cheaper than electicity.

Brent

 

I'm not the magnesol expert on this board but there could be a problem..

The magnesium silicate has pores that are more or less calibrated to suck up a certain size molecule.. I don't know if it would work or not..

However, if you pour in your glcyerin into your raw incoming oil, you will find that it not only helps start the conversion into biodiesel, but it helps to drag oil and water to the bottom. The resulting WVO on top will take on a lighter and more translucent color..

The other way to do it is to heat it up to 100 degrees or so and spray it.. the water will vaporize off like what happens to your bathroom mirror.

It is important to understand that there are two kinds of water present in waste vegetable oil.. The two types are "Free water" and Dissolved water"

Free water is what you get when you pour a cup of water into a volume of oil..

Dissolved water is what you get when food is cooked and the water present in the food is raised above the boiling point and injected into the oil as steam.. Steam is a much smaller particle size and won't settle to the bottom of a tank so easy.

At some point in saturation, if you get enough dissolved water into the oil, some of it will coagulate and become free water..

Removing free water is fairly easy.. removing dissolved water is much more difficult.

Hope this helps.

 

now as I understand magnesol it was originally sold to clean oil of impurities while still in use. That would make me think that it would work.

 

From what I know, magnesol is magnesium silicate.. The same stuff that you find in a new box of electronics.. You know, that little package of granuals that says "Do Not Eat"...

It soaks up moisture..

I don't see why it wouldnt work... I just cant say for sure because I have not done much magnesol related research..

Why not try a small batch and test it?

 

I dont think those packets are Magnesol. I believe Magnesol actually has to be in contact to absorb the contaminants. Those packets will draw moisture out of the air.

Superpony what water are you trying to remove?
If it's the small amount that forms during processing Magnesol will take care of it.
If it's residual from water washing that is another question: why water wash?

 

Phydeaux88, thank you. I was looking for another way to remove any water that may be in the oil I have collected. I don't plan on water washing.

 

OOOPS
went back and looked at earlier posts. Seems I missed the PRETREAT part.
If you get the oil to 150 and keep it there long enough the water will evaporate on its own no need to use Magnesol.
If you want to pretreat with Magnesol there is no need to heat the oil except to improve viscosity.
Whether Magnesol is cheaper than electricity depends on electric rates in your area. Magnesol used like that will run between $.05 and $.10 per gallon

 

Thank you Phydeaux88. I was mainly checking out my options.

 

YW

If you try it let us know how it works.

 

Will do, thanks for the help.