Customer Spotlight: Centrifuging Magnesol out of Biodiesel in Japan

We have an awesome customer in Japan that purchased one of our Raw Power Centrifuges as an experiment to remove magnesol from their Biodiesel. The results have been incredible!

First, they react their Biodiesel as normal and then run it through magnesol to remove the soap and other contaminants.
biowithmagnesolbeforecentrifuging01

In the past they’ve run the Biodiesel through a 1 Micron Bag Filter to remove the magnesol. This was usually a real pain because it always plugged up so fast that they went through filters fairly quickly. Even after the Biodiesel has been settling for 12 hours, it still would plug up their 1 micron bag filters.
centrifugebiodieselextremelyclean

They had heard how well centrifuges work at removing particulates and thought they’d experiment with one to see if it could remove the magnesol from biodiesel.

So, they setup the centrifuge and ran it through at about 10 gallons per hour.
centrifugingbiodieselwithmagnesol

Normally they settle the biodiesel for 12 hours before filtering, but they only let it sit for 1.5 hours and then ran it right through the centrifuge. The Biodiesel was at about 30-35 deg. C (85-95 deg F) at the time it went into the centrifuge. They ran it through at about 10 gallons per hour and then checked the centrifuge and the biodiesel.

To their great excitement, the centrifuge quickly removed the magnesol as can be seen by this picture they sent in of the magnesol all built up on the centrifuge bowl.
magnesolpackedintocentrifugebowl

Here’s what they said about how well it worked.
“Nothing comes out of the waste hose from the centrifuge as there is only biodiesel and magnesol going in. All the magnesol is packed very tightly against the bowls wall.”

After the Biodiesel was centrifuges, they transferred it through a tube into a 1 micron bag filter to see just how well it had removed the magnesol. The results were amazing!
centrifugedbiodieselinto1micronfilterB

centrifugedbiodieselinto1micronfilterA

The Biodiesel flowed right through the bag filter without plugging at all and the finished, filtered Biodiesel was sparkling clear and looked incredibly clean!

Here’s what they said about how clean it turned out:
“Not sure how good you can see but the bio coming out is crystal clear and there is NOTHING in the filter. It just flow right through.”

They’re thrilled with the results!

Here’s a few shots of their setup too. You can see the centrifuge in the first picture all the way on the left.
japansetupA
japansetupB

With the great results they had this to say about how well it would work on a larger scale:
“Using 0.5% to 1% magnesol and settling maybe half a day before centrifuging, I am sure you could process a couple hundreds of gallons before having to clean up the bowl.”

We think it’s awesome!

So, if you’ve ever wanted to experiment with magnesol but didn’t want to deal with the filtering, we may just have a solution for doing so with our awesome line of Raw Power Centrifuges!

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6 comments on “Customer Spotlight: Centrifuging Magnesol out of Biodiesel in Japan

  1. I make BD in 400L batches and am looking for a way to save on filter bags and save the mess of using them.
    I coarse sieve the dirty oil before putting it into my processor.
    My normal procedure is to water wash several times followed by a magnesol wash at about 1 kg/100L. I allow this to settle out and draw off the clean diesel from above the settled magnesol. Then filter this several times through 5 and then 1 micron bags. The 30L or so of BD remaining above and within the used magnesol I allow to settle in buckets and then I manually pour this through the filter bags which quickly clogs them.
    I then dry using heat and time.
    Where in this process would I utilise a centrifuge.
    With thanks Tim

  2. I would like suggestions on pumping and centrifuging drain oil to clean it up for heating.
    Where can I find centrifuge and what cost.
    Thanks,

    Tony

  3. I am ordering a soap test kit from you. I want to try the magnesol d60 but you do not list it for sale. Nor can I find it elsewhere for sale. Can you give me a link or a price.