I have some oil that i processed twice and it passes the 3/27 test and even a 30/270 test perfectly. I waterwashed the fuel three times, dried it and then ran it through thermax then purolite. Then i did a phlip test on it and after ten minutes it had a small layer of scum on the interface. Not snow it looked more like a film that could be scooped up with a wire and it somewhat would stick together. Then after a few hours the indicator turned orange. This makes no since because before it went into the towers it tested below 60ppm for soap. I read somewhere the other day that drywash needs at least 200ppm soap. Also, since there was no methanol i was wondering if that affected it?
Then i decided to do another phlip test on the water washed but not dry washed fuel. It passed perfectly after ten minutes, but after several hours the biodiesel turned turbid, but indicator remained red with next to nothing on the innerface. So somehow i am getting acid from the drywahing even though soap is 60ppm before entering. Yes i am doing soap test right because before washing i have usually 3000ppm. Also, i am gravity feeding the drywash and it is probably 10-20 times slower than it sould be so can the bio be with the resin for too long?
Wondering why fuel ran though the towers seems to have more contaminates and acid????

The phlip test is to be read 5 minutes after shaking, then discarded. The test gives false negatives by design when very close to ASTM spec for glycerides. The phlip test checks for mono glycerides and di glycerides. the 3/27 test checks for triglycerides.

Well it says on their instuctions that further results can be read 24-48 hours after the test is over-but it does not say what to look for. I called them but the lady i talked to just told me to email the Dr. that knows about it. Also, i am going to send a sample to be tested for full astm this week so that is why i am so picky about every small problem. Im thinking about not sending it through the towers since it seems to not be helping but hurting.

I don't think your issue is too little soap. It's probably too little methanol. All of the ion exchange beads require a minimum methanol content, I have not seen any with a minimum soap content requirement.

Let us know what the good Dr has to say about reading the test after the initial 5 minutes.

Thermax requires neither methanol nor soap. Residence time is not an issue either. The slower the flow the better. I am not sure what the problem is. Maybe GCG could chime in here.

What kind of resin tower are you using? What is the flow rate?


Why water wash and then dry wash? That seems to me to be a waste of resources, but that could just be my opinion.

Well i am thinking about maybe i dont have enough methanol because even thermax requires .25% i thought. Im not for sure on that though. It seems to be the only logical explaination, except it still doesnt explain my high acid numbers.
I know doing water then dry wash is a wast of time but i was expermenting to see how good of fuel quality i can get. For now it seems i am getting the best results from water only. I made the towers myself with 8'' stainless steel pipe they are each 54'' tall and the thermax was filled about 30'' while the purolite is filled to 24'' which is to manufactuered specs. i am flowing gravity feed right now and it is slow-maybe 3-4 gallons per hour max.

Sounds to me that you are doing things right. I am not sure about the flow rate. Mine is a lot slower. I gravity feed and do reverse flow (bottom up). My flow rate is more like 1 gallon per hour. Extremely slow, but it works for me. Maybe you could send GCG of Arborbiofuels a PM to get his response. He sells the Thermax and is probably the most knowledgeable on it.