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Prewashing Biodiesel with 5% Water by Chug from www.biofuel-uk.net/ and Maud Essen Questions? Comments? Feedback? Click Here Introduction A 5% water prewash is a way to give your biodiesel a preliminary wash after the reaction is finished but BEFORE draining off the glycerol byproduct. Performing a 5% water prewash stops the transesterification reaction dead in its tracks by drawing much of the water-soluble methanol, lye, and glycerol out of the biodiesel and into the glycerol layer. This can help reduce soap, inhibit emulsion formation, and make further washing easier. Why You May Want to Adopt the 5% Water Prewash Washing has traditionally been thought of as the most challenging, time-consuming aspect of biodiesel homebrewing. For many people who use the 5% water prewash method, this is no longer the case. In fact, most people who have used the 5% water prewash method report that their biodiesel is much easier to wash afterwards. Not only can it take a much more vigorous wash than biodiesel that has not been given a 5% water prewash but also it usually requires much less washing. In fact, following a 5% prewash you may need only one or two additional washes instead of three! Although this technique may help you save wash water overall, be aware that it will add water to your glycerol byproduct and therefore may make it harder to recover the methanol from it. If you don't recover methanol from your glycerol, carry on. What You Need to Do Start by running the biodiesel reaction in your processor as normal. Process as usual until your batch is finished. But BEFORE turning off your pump or mixer, add in your prewash and continue mixing. Here are the details for the two most common base reactions:
When you are finished mixing the prewash, settle the entire batch as usual in your processor or after pumping into your settling tank or wash tank. After your batch has settled, drain off the glycerol byproduct. Now that it has 5% water mixed in with it, your glycerol byproduct will be much thinner than usual and of course there will be more of it. Using your usual technique, wash your biodiesel until the wash water is clear. With the 5% water prewash you may find that you can use a faster, more vigorous washing technique with less risk of causing an emulsion. You may also find you need to wash your biodiesel just once or twice instead of three times. This technique can save you a lot of time, water, aggravation! |
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Collaborative Biodiesel Tutorial - Copyright 2005 |