Re: the washing process

what would be the best temp to have your processed bio at when you wash it?

Thanks, John
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Brandt" <[email protected]>
To: "General Biodiesel discussion" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 11:20 AM
Subject: Re: [pdx-biodiesel] the washing process


> On 3/3/08, John Harris <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> In all that I have read about washing processed bio, there is nothing 
>> mentioned
>> about product tempature.  Will washing go faster, or more effective, by 
>> raising
>> the temp of the product during the washing process?
>
> Yes, washing at higher temperatures should reduce water consumption
> and get the job done quicker.
>
> When you increase the temperature, soluble impurities in the biodiesel
> will more readily absorb into the warm water. You want to move as much
> soap into the water as possible, increased temperature will increase
> the point of supersaturation.
>
> One downside is that higher concentrations of soap in the water will
> also make it easier to create an emulsion. You need to be very careful
> when agitating the biodiesel and water. The more soap you remove, the
> harder you can agitate it without emulsion risks. So the key is to
> agitate very gently at first, and get more aggressive with each change
> out of soap saturated water.
>
> There are several ways you can avoid emulsions, you can pump your
> biodiesel into the water from the bottom, the biodisel will want to
> float to the surface where it can get picked up and pumped back in
> again. This avoids creating soap bubbles in the first place. You still
> need a "spray" of biodiesel coming from the bottom though, just a
> liquid spraying into another liquid in the absence of open head space.
>
> Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding for emulsions of
> biodiesel and water is; No air = No emulsion
>
> --
> Jeff Brandt
> Sun Break Biofuels, LLC
> http://www.sunbreakbiofuels.com
> mailto:[email protected]
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