I have no Idea.
\The qta has an error margin.
Im gonna call it 1%

Hi,
The fuel is a week old and demethed and settled. We've had some cooler weather, especially at night.

I sent it to dryer tank thru a 5 micron sock filter zip tied to the over head shower plumbing- no shower head. It's just circulating away cold. The bag filter is holding some of the soap already.



Now I have this, and my first 5% prewash batch is ready to transfer.



This shmag is very heavy, the 7 gallons below the SP are in buckets out in the sun.

GL says we don't need to clean it for every batch...But I dont like it.

Do you think it will affect my prewashed batch to pump it in there like that?

Brian

If I do clean it out, is some reasonable way to redesolve it so it can flow ?

edit; nevermind, I see water will do it.

Brian,

If you add a little sulfuric acid to it and I do mean little, the soap will revert back to FFA. You can use it later mixed with other oil and run an Acid Esterification prior to Base Transesterification. A lot of that glop is trapped biodiesel. That's the way that I would deal with it. You can also wash it with water. But you know how I feel about using water.

Thanks Eurocab,
I'm done with cleaning it.
I put in ~2 liters of dollar store vinegar. Even the rubbery top skins just fell apart.
I highly recommend this if you clean. It's very fast.

I would really like to learn the acid esterification process, I cant seem to find a caveman mentality explanation of how to do it and how it works. Maybe Reese123 could write about it. He has a gift to type clear explanations of perplexing conundrums. I suck at it, so I use photos.

My first 5% (1 gallon actually with added gly from stage 1) on a two stage reaction went very well.
It's passing all homebrew tests 'cept HCL soap test, but that's only a reference at this point.
There is a beaker sample demethed put on ice and droping soap as we speak.
(This is the Chinese buffet dark oil.)

I need to dry the wash tank and transfer it.

This is a lot of fun, and I don't even have a diesel vehicle to drive right now.
'Twisted Brown' needs a new PMD..~$260

Brian

quote:

But you know how I feel about using water. Roll Eyes

I feel the same way.
I have 10 gallons of soap/water from this and the spent glycerin will go to the plant next week.
A wet/dry shop-vac got the residual water. The job was easier than I thought it would be this morning.

The new batch is heating and bubbling now- no top skin yet.
I put the previous 7 gallons from below the SP into the new settling batch.

I keep doing a shake up test on the first/filtering batch, and it is actually dropping clearer water each time. No rag layer.

I'm guessing one week of settling like I'm doing is short. But I needed the tank and the dryer can hold the first batch and filter for however long- I got time.

Brian

Here is a picture of the ~5%~ and the 5/45 Varquist test.
the glycerin in the sample was not as dark as when I decanted the whole batch.
See the rag layer in between.



Brian

Brian
-AE treatment is not hard to do, pm me, i'd be happy to walk you through it.
-about your truck, what is the pmd.
-if you can geter back on the road for 250, go for it. I semi retired my 6.5 a year and a half ago, though it was costing a bit much to keep on the road and bought a 2005 dodge ram 3500 nice truck, Bull chit, my repair bills this year are $9000.00 + no wonder they where on the verge of bankrupcy! Tom

Tom,
'not sure about your '94 6.5 Detroit. Mine, they say, is a transitional year. Very problematic.
the PMD or FSD is a transitor box about the size of cigarette pack mounted on the injector pump.
Inside are 2 transistors with diamond shaped flanges like computer parts.
"Thus, 'pump mounted driver' or as aftermarket called 'fuel solenoid driver'"

It is the most popular troubleshooting issue a the ;
http://www.dieselplace.com/for...orumdisplay.php?f=21

I'm surprised you havent dealt with it, if your truck has this.
I ordered an extension cable and mounted it on the front bumper, as directed.
And MUST be secured to a heat sink. The truck came with an FSDCooler heat sink, but the PMD and cooler/aka heatsink was relocated to the plenum- not so better, in fact, worse. It's baked, I'm afraid.

Public school and end of summer expenses lightened the wallet. Hobbies and major repairs take a back seat. I have 3 (-er, 2)veh. legally on the rood. All GM.

Brian

weldshop
- oh ya. the black box, replaced that once and moved it off the ip and onto a heat sink, and the ip 3 times the last one was from a 1999 and was trouble free. But as you can see, buying another one could be jumping from the pot to the fire, thats how it worked for me.
-I understand the back to school thing, have four kids, all grown now, but it was always tough this time of the year. Tom

quote:

a 2005 dodge ram 3500 nice truck, Bull chit, my repair bills this year are $9000.00

Yes, Sir,
My next truck will be a pre-'03 Powerstroke 7.3 Turbo.
Hopefully the mods will be done already.

Other than a few issues of my own creation, BD related, My 02 chevy 2500 duramax has been trouble free. I had to have the stirring column replaced because it "clunked" when turning but other than that...pretty good. Seems the newer trucks have become more complex with emission standard regs and are, thus, more prone to problems.

quote:

This shmag is very heavy, the 7 gallons below the SP are in buckets out in the sun.

Looks like something out of a horror flick - jeez...

I used to get an emulsion with 80% of my batches which I could clear with heat, ~150F, and a day to two. since I started the 5% prewash I have not seen an emulsion since.

Dana,
That shmag was the bottom 1" thick.
I guess that is an emulsion of sorts. 'Cost me some yield.

The fresh 5%~ prewash is in there now. We'll see how it goes....
so far, so good.

Brian

Cool, let me know how it goes.

Now that the processor rebuild and chip towers are done I am looking at meth recovery but not sure if its worth it. Thoughts?

quote:

looking at meth recovery

Isn't glycerin pretreat a type of methanol recovery?
And how much alcohol is in the bio? 1/3?-- of 18-20%
For me, and small batches 30-50 gallons, no, it dosent seem worth the energy and time unless you're paying a lot for it.

Recovering from pretreated glycerin seems like your purity would suffer, just guessing.

I've considered recovering from the bio via flash evap through a condenser to speed things up,
but Im not sure it would. My current processor has flat sheetmetal top.
It would probly hinder condensing. Not positive of that either.
http://biodieselpictures.com/v...c.php?t=562&start=15

If I can drive away with spec fuel, that's good enuff for me.

Brian

quote:

Originally posted by Biotom:
weldshop
- oh ya. the black box, replaced that once and moved it off the ip and onto a heat sink, and the ip 3 times the last one was from a 1999 and was trouble free. But as you can see, buying another one could be jumping from the pot to the fire, thats how it worked for me.
-I understand the back to school thing, have four kids, all grown now, but it was always tough this time of the year. Tom

Tom,
did you get the pmd out of the engine compartment? Most guys put it in the bumper, behind the bumper, in the grill or in the cab.

I hope the IP is ok. If I replaced mine 3 times, I coulda bought the truck all over again.

Brian

quote:

Cool, let me know how it goes.

It's 60*F in the garage today.
The filtering batch in the dry tank is clear all the way to the bottom. I can see the drain clearly.
It does not give a clear water shake up test. It's circulating cold,5 micron, should I do anything differently? The filter bag has orange streaks from the flow.
Also, I'm heating up a sample and its not so clear and bright with heat.

Now the ~5% prewashed batch is demething, doing fine- I think.
I did an other 45/5 test and it passed good and clear under 70*F.
There is no top skin forming on the prewashed batch.
Am I to assume I was successful in reducing my soaps during the prewash? I hope.

I've read about alot of people doing the prewash, but never thought I would.
I'm glad I did so far.

Brian

quote:

If I can drive away with spec fuel, that's good enuff for me.

That's about where my mind is as well. However, when meth prices shoot up to $4/gal again I may have to rethink it.

quote:

The filtering batch in the dry tank is clear all the way to the bottom. I can see the drain clearly.
It does not give a clear water shake up test. It's circulating cold,5 micron, should I do anything differently? The filter bag has orange streaks from the flow.

Is this supposed to give a passing shake em up at some point?
The water phase is still kinda white for an hour or so.

When is it ready for resin?

Brian