I soaked a small jar of furniture grade pine shavings in a jar of washed and dried biodiesel for a few weeks and then gave a shakemup test to the bio soaked in the pine and one not soaked from the same batch.
The water from the pine shavings came out clearer than the non soaked sample and there was no emulsion between the layers even though it may look like there is in the photos. I would surmise from these results that the pine does not impart any pitch that would show up in a shakemup test.
Is this information useful? Not likely but it did satisfy my curiosity. LOL!

The sample on the right is the treated one.
Jon
Shavings:


Before water:


After settling for 10 minutes:

Jon
-the sample on the right is the one that soaked in the shavings, the water is much clearer that the other sample. how much washing did that bio have before going into the shavings?
-nice looking biodiesel, from what type of oil? Tom

Hi Tom,
My biodiesel is currently mostly made from canola and some sunflower oil, that batch was likely strait canola that titrated around 2. This was a Dr.Pepper batch (1L) I made last year, I water washed it 4 times and it has settled all spring and summer in my lab before this test...

I just weighed a big piece of gummy sap from a spruce tree in the yard and tossed it in a jar of bio... It certainly isn't dissolving quick enough to tell if it is or not...
I will let y'all know what the outcome is...
Jon

Hi Jon-the bio on the right looks far brighter-do you think its traces of water or soap that the pine shavings has removed-or has something in the pine shavings acted as a co-solvent,to dissolve whatever is in the bio to bring it back bright-intersting

Its just an effect of the picture. To the bare eye the bio layer looks identical in both samples and the water is only very slightly turbid looking in the untreated sample. After sitting in the sun all day they both look identical, crystal clear bio on top of crystal clear water...
The chunk of spruce gum I stuck in the sample last night completely dissolved into the bio and has settled to the bottom. As soon as you swirl the jar you can see the liquid resin mix back up with the bio and make it turbid, after about 10 minutes is settles back to the bottom. I just mixed in some water to see if that will wash it out...
Jon

Very encouraging results Jon,
I used Fir planer shavings with good results last summer. Were the Pine shavings thoroughly dry (kiln dried or similar) when you used them. Interesting but not surprising that the gum dissolved in the bio. If it's no too late, would you be willing to do me a favor and put a sample of the bio that was run through the pine and a sample from the same batch that was not run through the pine in the fridge to see if there is a temperature difference in the could point? I would suspect that resin, gums, pitch or other contaminates may give the bio slightly lower cold tolerance if they are present in the finished bio. This wouldn't be definitive but never the less an indication.

Doh!
I just poured them out tonight... I had them on the lid of my barbecue in the back yard and inadvertently knocked one off which promoted me to clean up the rest of the experiment...

I would assume that the shavings were kiln dried as they came from a fine furniture maker and seemed bone dry, however I am not certain. I can find out next time I am by, he is going to try and keep the hard wood shavings separate from the soft for some full scale tests next time...

The spruce gum didnt wash out with the water but instead floated on the water between the bio and water, it seems its not water soluble...
Jon
EDIT:
I am on crack! I still have some of each...
I will put them in the fridge later tonight and let you know what happens...
Jon

I used 55 gallons of kiln dried pine shavings on my last 300 gallon batch they stopped removing soap at around 200ppm, red oak will go to less than 20ppm, pine may be OK for a prefilter before the red oak, but it is not final filter material.

Good info fabricator.
Do you notice any resin settling out at the bottom of the pine filtered batch?

Nope nothing, no emulsion layer, nothing settled out and nothing floating on top, and nothing visable in the bio itself or the water.

Should I return the pine shavings and order oak?

Fuel Farmer,
Definately return it. That's only enough to a 50 gallon batch. I think your right over the mountain from me. Will you deliver a grain truck load to me? It's harvest time, you could probably use that room here soon.

Nice!
I didn't get any emulsion with the sample with the big chunk of spruce gum either, it all separated very quickly into its 3 layers after a good mixing. I wonder what effect the resin would have, it burns readily just by holding a lighter up to a chunk of it...

Nice haul FF! I see like usual your going small scale!
How are you setting up your column FF?

DD, I have a 50ml sample of each in the fridge...
Jon

He probably has a silo for his column.

Fuel Farmer, you could sell it to a boarding stable.

A little more plumbing work and .........................



I am just having to much fun. We use the shavings for bedding and the silo for making cell phone calls. OK. Other people use the silo to make calls also. We just rent out the space.

Holy mother of pearl, that looks to be somewhere around the tune of 2K a month in lease money to me, around here a lease for just one tower is 1K/month.

I wish. It is about 1/4 of 2K. The site is a small repeater system to cover a dead spot between some big towers. It seems every few years they drop in new equipment for a few hundred grand a pop.

DD,
The 2 samples seemed to freeze and thaw at exactly the same rate. This was just a handful of shavings though in a small jar of bio so larger scale tests would be required to be conclusive in my opinion...
Jon

Thanks Jon,
I tested the fir planer shavings I have and couldn't notice any difference in cloud point.