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bubble washing small batches

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  • bubble washing small batches

    Apologies if this has been covered but a search
    didn't throw it up for me -

    I purchased a small (and cheap) aquarium aerator and
    smallish stone to play around with bubble washing

    I made up a 2l batch - wvo 400mls Methanol and 14gm of NaOH
    ( I did a titration tonight and it looks like I need 5+3gm/litre
    -ie a bit underdone on the NaOH)

    The glycerine was fairly solid when I decanted off after
    24hrs

    Now the bubble wash - added 400mls of water and set it going
    - virtually instant emulsification - looked like
    "Lanes Emulsion" (shows my age!)
    -it has slightly settled today but really only minimally.

    I felt on starting up the aerator it was too violent after
    reading all the advice here on being very gently initially
    when washing

    Has anyone had any joy bubble washing small batches
    or am I off up a dry creek trying it out

    Incidentally (Joe) I did a 2l batch so I could use 1l for
    a trial reprocess

    thanks for any advice

    bigears

  • #2
    Re: bubble washing small batches

    Yes i have bubble washed 3 litre jobs in a 4 litre container got a dense white layer between water and biodiesel would have been 10mm thick and thought at that time all the bubble washing will do is circulate that white layer up into the biodiesel, but back then i was only using a base koh amount of 5 grams plus titration now i do a base of 7.8 grams plus titration and stir wash in a 20 lt drum with drill 4 washes at 5 litre water per wash the fourth is crystal clear and i bubble dry. For me i was not using enough koh.
    And i get the same result with the 3 litre jobs using the higher amount of koh,
    I can shake them like mad when washing and the first wash water looks like milk the following washes become cleaner and no emulsion.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: bubble washing small batches

      Many people report emulsion problems when bubble washing.
      The World famous Dr Pepper Wash Technique (Pat Pend) is a better way to wash small test batches of biodiesel.
      http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?...7061#741607061

      Tilly

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: bubble washing small batches

        thanks Tilly - I am aware of that method and have
        used it successfully but wanted to try out bubble washing.
        I used info from :
        http://www.green-trust.org/washing_biodiesel.htm

        (there is about 6 pages of info and advice)

        Anyway - didn't work so I am thinking of trying a bigger stone
        to get a more gentle bubble effect and also 8gm of NaOH
        as per my (first effort) titration result


        bigears

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: bubble washing small batches

          I read somewhere not to long ago of making a lot of pin holes through the air hose and make something to keep it on the bottom.
          I had a air stone and the glue that is used to glue the plastic nipple to the stone started to disolve.
          So i made heaps of pin holes in the air hose and stuck a piece of steel rod in the end to keep on the bottom, works fine.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: bubble washing small batches

            "So i made heaps of pin holes in the air hose and stuck a piece of steel rod in the end to keep on the bottom, works fine."

            I used a bolt instead of a steel rod, other than that, it is the same design. - KISS

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: bubble washing small batches

              pin holes and a bolt sounds good to me

              thanks for that

              Comment

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