A question for water washers.

[Jamesrl]

Looking for something with no moving parts and I thought agglomerators were more for solids in liquids?

We use'm on boats purely for water separation, there are sedimenter agglomerators available, two for one so to speak.

[nigelb]

If you cant tell the difference between water and biodiesel then you've got a bit of a problem. Try draining the water slowly...the difference is easily spotted.

It seems as some folk like to make a simple process as difficult as possible.

And it seem's some are just toooo perfect. lol

When people do it wrong they will loose fuel...do it slowly and keep it simple.

I'm not perfect...but my methods are pretty damn close. KISS

[Dickjotec]

Looking for something with no moving parts and I thought agglomerators were more for solids in liquids?

We use'm on boats purely for water separation, there are sedimenter agglomerators available, two for one so to speak.

I have tried one of those, with water heated copper tube wrapped round it but, as it .runs on solid oil, heated to 50C once it cools in the seperator it takes hours for it to liquefy again.

[nigelb]

If you cant tell the difference between water and biodiesel then you've got a bit of a problem. Try draining the water slowly...the difference is easily spotted.

It seems as some folk like to make a simple process as difficult as possible.

I ALWAYS drain my reactor very slowly be it glyc or water.

How am I making it difficult?

I add water with acid, pump mix, settle overnight and drain off, as yet I've not seen a clear difference between soapy glyc loaden water and wet Bio but I am a newbie to your world.

I don't use acid Jim. Just a simple, gentle, bubble system.

No pump washing until the last wash when it's a hot pump wash to reduce the soap levels to next to nothing.

No need to settle over night....not sure why you would need to do that.

I bubble overnight and drain the water off while the air pump is still running.

I always see when the water stops and the bio starts. One is watery and the other is oily.

I always wash with 10lts of water and drain that back into the measured bucket I used to put the water in with....so I know when I'm close to the mark.

I keep it simple and uncomplicated with no added chemicals....no need for additional equipment with this method.

How are you making it difficult? I really don't know

[nathanrobo]

If you cant tell the difference between water and biodiesel then you've got a bit of a problem. Try draining the water slowly...the difference is easily spotted.

It seems as some folk like to make a simple process as difficult as possible.

I ALWAYS drain my reactor very slowly be it glyc or water.

How am I making it difficult?

I add water with acid, pump mix, settle overnight and drain off, as yet I've not seen a clear difference between soapy glyc loaden water and wet Bio but I am a newbie to your world.

James

You could look at it this way... If you are in a hurry for oil on a batch, or if it's dead of winter and you think you might have HMPE's then water wash (you can do it in a couple of hours without the need to settle over night). Bottom line is that settling without water wash has worked for you for the last lord knows how many years.

but you've given it a go, which shows open mindedness - no criticism from me... I applaud anyone decides one way or another from a vantage point of having tried. 

[Jamesrl]

Nige, I used titrated acid 1st wash followed acetone in the second wash on the first batch and continued with two plain water washes, worked out quite well.

The second batch an Acid + acetone 1st wash and two plain water washes after, an emulsified foaming mess.

I'm beginning to think your way may be better, I'll try the gentle bubble wash without additives before I make a final decision. 

[1958steveflying]

Nige, I used titrated acid 1st wash followed acetone in the second wash on the first batch and continued with two plain water washes, worked out quite well.

The second batch an Acid + acetone 1st wash and two plain water washes after, an emulsified foaming mess.

I'm beginning to think your way may be better, I'll try the gentle bubble wash without additives before I make a final decision.

Jim I know it's not hard to confuse me these days but I thought this,

"I've just finished my second 100ltr batch using Acid and Acetone, this time I added 2ml/ltr to the first Titrated Acid (80ml H2SO4) wash water.

1st wash was 10ltr run for 1hr and settled over night.

2nd wash just 10ltr of water washed fro 30mins and settled for a couple of hours.

A 50/50 soap test after the second wash showed crystal clear water, I gave it a 3rd wash just to make sure though, it's now drying in the reactor using the condenser and water is flowing nicely at only 60°C, y'can beat a squirrel for rapid evaporation."

Was your second batch that went okay washing, no mention of foaming messes.

[nigelb]

Nige, I used titrated acid 1st wash followed acetone in the second wash on the first batch and continued with two plain water washes, worked out quite well.

The second batch an Acid + acetone 1st wash and two plain water washes after, an emulsified foaming mess.

I'm beginning to think your way may be better, I'll try the gentle bubble wash without additives before I make a final decision.

For 6 years I've been washing in this successful way. I cant see any advantage in changing my methods. I see it as a brave decision to do what you're doing. You just need to find the best way of doing it. I found it 6yrs ago. I still make errors though. 2yrs ago I put the bubbler on too high and had a partial emulsion. Soon sorted that out.

I wonder why your second wash batch failed.

[Jamesrl]

Was your second batch that went okay washing, no mention of foaming messes.

All was OK until the bio went into the settling tank for a final bubble, next morning a complete, what appeared to be soapy, mess.

I've given it another wash and got 10ltr of cream back.

[Jamesrl]

Ok the batch has been saved.

I now have a beautiful 100-ish ltr of crystal clear Bio.

I achieved it by changing my drying method, I used my wvo drying tank with the hemi-spherica diffuser.

The oil was heated to 65°C  whilst running the pump and diffuser, 90mins later job done.

Sooooooo I now need new Bio drying tank.

I feel yet another water washed batch coming on putting all the component parts together.

[1958steveflying]

Ok the batch has been saved.

I now have a beautiful 100-ish ltr of crystal clear Bio.

I achieved it by changing my drying method, I used my wvo drying tank with the hemi-spherica diffuser.

The oil was heated to 65°C  whilst running the pump and diffuser, 90mins later job done.

Sooooooo I now need new Bio drying tank.

I feel yet another water washed batch coming on putting all the component parts together.

Well done Jim, your not the first to have had issues when Bubbling for some reason.

[nathanrobo]

Ok the batch has been saved.

I now have a beautiful 100-ish ltr of crystal clear Bio.

I achieved it by changing my drying method, I used my wvo drying tank with the hemi-spherica diffuser.

The oil was heated to 65°C  whilst running the pump and diffuser, 90mins later job done.

Sooooooo I now need new Bio drying tank.

I feel yet another water washed batch coming on putting all the component parts together.

James, when i came over last time you talked an air drying solution without the splashes... is this hemi-spherica diffuser what you were referring to?  Can you post a pic? 

[Chug]

When I used to water wash, I dcollected the wash water into another drum and left it for a few weeks to separate and then it was easy to save any bio that had risen to the top.

[nathanrobo]

Doesn't it depend on how you value your bio as to how important every last litre is?  What do I mean by that... If your bio costs you say 30p per litre and you lose a couple of litres, that's just 60p (you'd not bend down to pick that up on a busy street).

But cost is not the same as value, so you may value your fuel at £130 per litre.  In this case a couple of litres could be worth recovering.  I guess if you have enough fuel to keep you mobile, it's more about the cost to produce each litre as the cost of derv is irrelevant.

[Jamesrl]

If your bio costs you say 30p per litre and you lose a couple of litres, that's just 60p (you'd not bend down to pick that up on a busy street).

I come from a different world/era, I'd pick up a penny.

You look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves, I was taught.

It ain't so much the price/value that counts it's the time and effort put into making the stuff and I hate waste.