Difference between revisions of "Winter waxing"
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An incomplete reaction, or a partial reverse reaction (such as by removing too much methanol while following the [[Whole Batch Demeth]] method) can result in biodiesel that is rich in monoglycerides and diglycerides. These often cause cloudyness in the methanol when performing a [[3/27 test]]. | An incomplete reaction, or a partial reverse reaction (such as by removing too much methanol while following the [[Whole Batch Demeth]] method) can result in biodiesel that is rich in monoglycerides and diglycerides. These often cause cloudyness in the methanol when performing a [[3/27 test]]. | ||
| − | Mono and diglycerides have an elevated melt point. During summer | + | Mono and diglycerides have an elevated melt point. During the warm days of summer their presence may go undetected, as they remain liquid. In winter a layer of cream may form after a few days of settling. |
==Surviving waxing winter== | ==Surviving waxing winter== | ||
Revision as of 22:35, 4 March 2013
In winter (or in a convenient freezer) some waxing in biodiesel may be observed as either suspended flakes or a white/yellow creamy layer at the bottom of containers.
Contents
Turning vegetable oils into biodiesel lowers the overall melt point of the liquid, that is to say that the resultant fuel will still be liquid at temperatures where the source oil would have become solid. However, making biodiesel from feedstocks containing high melt components such as palm oil will inevitably result in higher melt points in the final fuel. These components are commonly referred to as High Melt Point Esters (HMPEs).
An incomplete reaction, or a partial reverse reaction (such as by removing too much methanol while following the Whole Batch Demeth method) can result in biodiesel that is rich in monoglycerides and diglycerides. These often cause cloudyness in the methanol when performing a 3/27 test.
Mono and diglycerides have an elevated melt point. During the warm days of summer their presence may go undetected, as they remain liquid. In winter a layer of cream may form after a few days of settling.
Surviving waxing winter
Additives such as petrol typically do not prevent wax formation, though the level may be reduced. Treatment is by water washing or separation.
Water washing
As mono and diglycerides are highly hygroscopic, they can be removed by Water Washing with cold water. The initial level of in the produced fuel may also be reduced by doing a cold Water Prewash before settling soaps.
The same is likely to be true of waxes from HMPEs, as the cold water will assist their solidification.
Separation by settling
If water it not used in your process and the fuel is only gravity settled after demething, liquid biodiesel can be drawn from the top of a settled batch, and the creamy liquid at the bottom put into the next batch for reprocessing. Only a very small amount of methanol and catalyst will be required to complete their conversion to fatty acid methyl esters, so treat them as already converted biodiesel in the batch, or follow the two stage process without any changes.
Separation by filtering
Waxes may be separated by gravity filtering through sheets, or by centrifuging.
Pressure filtering, for example with a pump through 10" filter elements, may only remove a small amount of wax - the rest will be extruded through the filter element by the pump's pressure and still be present in the fuel.
- Waxing
Wax at bottom of barrel
A closer look at the ball formation
Wax balls on the side of a barrel
Waxes after bio is filtered off
Wax forming around the coil of a beer chiller
A closer look
Severe waxing. Source Bionoob
Severe waxing. Source Bionoob
Severe waxing. Source Bionoob
