Improved bio drying.

[Julian]

Some years back I tried blowing air from a small diaphragm compressor through a sintered brass pneumatic silencer into heated oil in the processor.  Results didn't seem that good so I capped of the connection on the processor and forgot about it.

Recently my bubbler pump gave up the ghost so I've been having trouble getting the washed bio dry, so I thought I'd have another crack at using this "furiously bubble in processor" method for bio.  To my surprise it seemed to work really well … collection from the plumbers delight condenser was like a gently running tap compared with periodic drips I used to get using the venturi and it dried the bio to completely clear in around 10 - 15 minuets.  You do need to have the bio at 100°C to get the method to work well, but compared to running Frankinpump for an hour or two I think the result is way more economical.

Happy to give more details if needed should anyone else want to try this.

[dgs]

I remember conversing with HC2 on VOD about drying. I think he also used to take his bio up to 100degs. It could still be clear and bright at 900ppm when back to 20degs.

[nigelb]

900ppm with or without some sort of assistance. I cant remember what the standard is for water. A heads up please dgs.

[dgs]

The spec is 500ppm Nige. Bio goes cloudy because of water at around 1000ppm. Clear and bright used to be the old yardstick and who knows it is probably good enough. Most people that don't w/wash think they don't need to dry their bio which (from experiance) usually ends up at 5 to 700ppm. To my knowledge no one has trouble with excess water.

I have seen one or two (not on this forum) pouring cloudy bio in their tank. OUCH.

[Julian]

For me, with no other way of judging water content, clear at ambient has always been good enough (but I'll 'fess up to using cloudy bio in the past).

With the above method, you can get quite a feeling of how dry the bio might be by watching the rate of condensate collection … it seems to tail off quite quickly after a while.

With all the apparent benefits of water injection, is damp bio such a problem anyway?

[nigelb]

The myth is that damp bio could effect the precision parts in the IP....whereas water injection is via the air intake.

[Dickjotec]

I have never dried my bio, I used to de-meth with a plumbers delight but now just bubble for 24 hours. I have never water washed and as the oil I use is very clear when it goes into the processor I don’t think there is much water present. Bio is always clear when I transfer to settling tank after draining glyc.