Biopowered - vegetable oil and biodiesel forum
Biodiesel => Biodiesel equipment => Topic started by: Carrington on October 03, 2012, 10:08:16 PM
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Hi all
I've been asked recently about the best way to dry water washed fuel (I think water wash is coming back in vogue ).
So after giving it some thought come up with this idea.
Dry fuel in a sealed cone top tank with a 1" or bigger outlet in middle of cone , pipe the outlet to a bathroom extractor fan probably on shed wall venting outside.
Pump fuel as normal from bottom returning at the top using a stay bar or hot spoon.
So far straight forward
The fan is drawing vapour out but air needs replacing so we have a pipe going in at the top of the tank but instead of going into the head space it goes down into the fuel , this pipe would probably need to be adjustable with a slip compression joint.
So the question is.
Would the fan produce enough suck to draw air down the inlet pipe and through the fuel.
Would the pressure in the tank be lowered enough to make a difference in turning any water to vapour at lower temp.
If the air inlet was connected to a heat exchange woul hot air bubbling through fuel help much more than bubbling with a aquarium pump.
The air inlet could be ajustable to allow the bubbling to be as low as poss in the fuel so as to gain more agitation and lower tank pressure.
That's it for now it still makes sense to me when put to text.
Just trying to come up with a quick drying method for home brewing.
I may have to build a small plant just to try new stuff out
Paul
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Good reasoning but I think it would be on hell of a fan to pull say 1000mm head. Generally with pumps and fans I think it's easier to blow than suck.
You could run a simple test by making a U tube manometer and a transition piece (could be a plastic funnel or something cobbled together from card) and attach it to the fan, noting the difference between the two levels. That would be the depth to which you could immerse you inlet pipe.
It's not an original idea, but I use a pneumatic silencer attached to a compressor to de-water my hot oil. It certainly produces a much higher throughput of air than the venturi.
As a washing novice, I have to return my washed bio to the processor to dry it. I use the same method for this drying process.
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Hi Julian
You maybe right about the fan I may have to experiment with different fans or I do have a compressed air amplifier that I have crushed a Ibc with , that might be a bit extrem for home brew
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Water washing back in vogue? Wash your mouth out with soapy w... errr... sawdust!
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I am just rejigging my plant and getting the setup in place to use boiler heat to heat everything (only electricity will be for pumps, fan, air pump and lights.
It is totally set up for water washing now due to the success of Paul (Carrington)'s process.
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Cool I'm glad people are getting on with the process.
I helped Nathan with the basic way today with instant good results.
Paul
Still trying to improve drying for the small brewer
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Where can I find more info about your process Paul?
You've also reminded me about an experiment I ran a year ago where I toyed with the idea of drying WVO by mounting it to the ceiling and allowing it to fall down into a collection vessel in ultra fine drops.
The high surface area to volume ratio means that the water within the droplet would rapidly evaporate (as does rain water)
It was highly effective (I can find the exact figures if you like) and very energy efficient, The only problem I found was that the oil became cloudy as it became aerated along the way. My understanding of motor engines is 0 but maybe this isn't a problem and could in fact allow the oxygenated bio to burn smoother in the engine?
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Whoops! Looks like I started a new thread needlessly... Sorry! :-[
Muddied the water (pls. excuse the pun), with meth content in washed fuel, and probably high water ppm in fuel not tested with Sandy Bray or similar.
So what now. Should I delete my post?
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No, just leave it ... this will happen time and time again. Each thread probably has a different slant of a different batch of films is discussed towards the end!