Biopowered - vegetable oil and biodiesel forum
Biodiesel => Biodiesel equipment => Topic started by: gonzo on May 23, 2019, 10:42:28 PM
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I've just run my reactor drum up for the first time. Just running with some WVO and checking for leaks etc.
The pump I have is a Grundfos CH circulation pump. And on my system, it is moving the unheated oil at around 10l/min. That's in a 205ltr barrel.
Reading up, that looks to be about a quarter of what I should be looking for. Now, I recon once heated, I may get a bit more flow, but it's still on the low side.
Question is, what effect will a slower pump have? Will it just need longer reaction times? Or are there any other pitfalls I should be aware of?
For example... Taking 20min to turn the batch around, could I end up with glycerol dropping out into the cone base, quicker than I can pump it. And be just pumping the glycerol around?
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Central heating pumps have their uses. Main reactor pumping is not one of them in my opinion. Invest in something that is more fit for purpose.
I use a central heating pump for my drying cycle.
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I did suppect that when I saw the flow rate !
Will have a look around and see what else I can find.
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Hi gonzo, Nige is correct. I used to do 340 litre batch sizes using a slowish pump. Not only did the process take more time but seemed to use more chemicals. This was in the days when I used to experiment a lot. I aquired a small 100 litre processor with a puisi panther pump, I could do batch sizes down to 70 litres with it.
What a difference! I fitted an eductor and reckoned turn round time in the processor was 20 seconds.
I promised myself I would never again use a 'weak' pump. Present set up is a 220 litre proc with eductor powered with a tam 120. It mixes like crazy!
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The TAM pumps seem to be out of production.
The closest they do looks to be a BIP1500. A more powerfull version of the TAM 103.
Hopefully that is useable.
If anyone knows, let me know and I'll order one.
Cheers all.