When I wash the bio for the first of the three times it turns to a milk look. I use the method of adding 10 litres of water per 50 litres of oil and use a fish tank bubbler for 20 minutes then let it sit for two hours. Then I drain off the water. At this point it comes out like milk. If I take a sample and let it sit it never separates. What I do is drain off 10 litres and wash it another two times, let it sit for 4 days. It comes out ok but I'm not happy with the process. Can anyone give me suggestions what is wrong. (I use a mix of methanol and caustic soda.)

We had exactly the same problem in the beginning. Now we start by mist washing a couple of times with the batch at about 60 deg, followed by pumping the now hot,hot water from the bottom and spraying it violently onto the top of the Bio. Washes easily and quickly. No more problems. Remember the gentle wash at the beginning is mandatory, and we keep away from bubbling. Jim.

As JimKohler above has noted. The first wash must be gentle. This is the wash that removes the methanol, thus the soap will begin to drop out of solution (and remove the emulsion problem). I usually mist about 25% of the volume of BD first, then let it sit for a couple of hours. After that, I begin with the hot water and bubbler. A couple of washes later and it's all nice and clear (after drying).

Another potential method (which I read on this forum somewhere) is to start the wash process by raising the bubbler ring into the fuel and bubble to remove the methanol. Thus, the soaps begin to fall. Well, I tried this on my current 30 gallon batch. I ran the bubbler (no water) for about 4 hours. What I drained from the bottom of the tank looked like a weak chocolate shake. The fuel had already started to clear. I've just started the first bubble wash (no misting this time) and no problem at this point. The fuel is already clearing nicely.

I'll post more when completed.

EDIT: 12/3/08 - Not sure what to say about the above process. I still had to do 3 bubble washes to get the fuel to totally clear. I'll try it again on my next batch.

Jim...

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jimmy k,

I believe i ran into the same problem. I just made a 34 gallon batch. I plumbed it so it would just dribble in. I used the bubbler on the lowest setting. I saw little white drops of soap bubble up and then drop down. I only did it for 2 hours. when i used my clearwater pump to pump it to my settling tank,it emulsfied. should i have done it longer?

Hi, mj10327.

At that point, you still had a LOT of soap in your BD. Running it through your pump at that time (along with some suspended water) makes soap (emulsion).

Once processed, move it to a wash/dry tank and don't pump it anywhere until the washing cycle(s) are completed.