evening lads and lasses ive just done another 400l process of bio and im now getting to the stage where i wanna have a nice washed product so ive just done a mist wash on it with the bio at 40degs and warm water mist ive droped all the water out of btm and then boiled it up to 90 degs to evaporate any water off that was left the way i checked was a bit heath robinson i put my glasses over tank until they didnt steam up do you think this is an ok way to rid it of water or does heating it to that temp harm bio seems to be lovely stuff now ? any feedback x

A more reliable water test in finished fuel is to let it cool and then stick a jar of it in the refridgerator overnight. If it stays clear it is dry.

thanks eagle so you think its ok to do it the way i am boi;ing it off

90-100C is not going to harm the biodiesel. The only concern is if you're trying to conserve energy or reduce costs, it must take into account the energy used to make the heat to get you there. If you have cheap energy this may not be a concern to you. The other issue is when I used to dry bio like this even when heating it directly with firewood or LP gas it took a good long while to get dry and it would pop and sizzle something awful to lose that water. I'm spray drying it now, but that too has its pros and cons

can you explain spray drying to me please

another question on the subject of washing is it ok to leave the meth in while mist washing and then boil both the water off and meth at same time ?

Legal,

Hmm... first time I've read about that. I've usually checked by a hot pan test. Is the fridge a more effective test on testing dried bio?

The frige test is very good, if you put it in over night and it is cloudy the next day you have wet bd. The final word is the Imanometer, it gives you parts per million.

The 'fridge test' is NOT a reliable method for confirming dry biodiesel. BD can 'pass' the fridge test and still have enough moisture to cause problems. Also the 'fridge test' will turn cloudy due to PHO or fat based BD. The Hot Pan Test, or Vapor Test are much more valid.

I didnt quite understand your post but are you washing more than once? You asked about the meth and the mist wash will wash the meth out then you only need to dry to remove water. I use a tank to circulate and heat it back up while spraying.
You can use a shower head or heads from the supply guys on here. I simply crimp my hose. Pump from bottom to top with an inline heater and if you washed good enough you will dry in 1-2 hours.. I then use quick n dri as a final..

HTH

Raften,

What is the Imanometer? Looked it up but only found one entry by you some time ago.

On that note, I've read alot about drying methods etc. but how does one truly know the bio is dry enough to go into the vehicle?

Perhaps he meant manometer. There is a thread that imakebiodiesel has on making one.

quote:

how does one truly know the bio is dry enough to go into the vehicle?

Simple, just use one of the water-in-fuel test methods:
http://www.burnveg.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=72

There are several different ways to test your fuel for mositure..Pick one that works for you and stick with.. You'll get a system down rather quickly and just know when your dry..

Was wondering. In the WHW method, after weighing and pouring into pan, some oil gets left behind. After heating and pouring back in, some oil gets left in the pan. Do these tiny amounts of oil left behind interfere with the calculations?

quote:

Originally posted by artesp:
Was wondering. In the WHW method, after weighing and pouring into pan, some oil gets left behind. After heating and pouring back in, some oil gets left in the pan. Do these tiny amounts of oil left behind interfere with the calculations?

Yes they do; that's not the correct way to do the test. The oil and the container it's heated in must be weighed together.
http://www.biodieselcommunity....antitativewatertest/
Also note the discussion of the limitations of this technique at the link provided a couple of messages back.

Ahh.. now that makes sense. I'll have to try that one.