Hi,
Anyone had experience with 'clarifying' WVO with baking soda and salt? Found the following but am undecided as yet. Any chemists out there that can illuminate me as to what is really going on?
Thanks, Michael
Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems
And pinched from infopop;
"I've been playing around with baking soda and WVO off and on over the past year, mainly using BS in water solution as a brine wash
was hoping BS would:
- neutralize acids and sugars;
- facillitate and speed settling of emulsion;
- encourage microdroplets of water to settle out (dewater)
[I have not tried adding dry BS to WVO - my instinct is that that would just add more crap to WVO and clog filters faster]
brine wash DOES seem to:
- speed settling (definitely);
- clarify oil (certainly looks lighter and clearer);
- remove sugars and acids (I end up with a distinct white line of material below oil and above water - I'm guessing this is a combination of BS, fats, sugars, etc, although I haven't tasted it yet);
but it does NOT seem to effectively dewater
I get more water in every sample than in the raw WVO
ALTHOUGH
I haven't had time to try brine wash of *filtered* WVO w/ *heat* settling
(this is my last best hope)
in general I get better results with filtered WVO (over raw) and with heat settling (over ambient)
note:
BS brine emulsion of RAW WVO, *heat* settled, DOES prefilter well
water ends up quite dark with much particulate
(must have heat to achieve this)
if you want to save on filters and are careful to dewater, this might be a good prefiltering option w/ added benefit of neutralization
my hope is to come up with an economical way to turn WVO back into near-virgin oil (unprocessed WVO seems to have a relatively short shelf life - my guess is that acids, sugars, etc encourage breakdown and rancidity)
rOLf
2 yrs and 50k mi on WVO - '93 VW EuroVan 2-tank w/ tank heat/HOH/10-micron heated Fleetguard, FPHE"
Anyone had experience with 'clarifying' WVO with baking soda and salt? Found the following but am undecided as yet. Any chemists out there that can illuminate me as to what is really going on?
Thanks, Michael
Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems
And pinched from infopop;
"I've been playing around with baking soda and WVO off and on over the past year, mainly using BS in water solution as a brine wash
was hoping BS would:
- neutralize acids and sugars;
- facillitate and speed settling of emulsion;
- encourage microdroplets of water to settle out (dewater)
[I have not tried adding dry BS to WVO - my instinct is that that would just add more crap to WVO and clog filters faster]
brine wash DOES seem to:
- speed settling (definitely);
- clarify oil (certainly looks lighter and clearer);
- remove sugars and acids (I end up with a distinct white line of material below oil and above water - I'm guessing this is a combination of BS, fats, sugars, etc, although I haven't tasted it yet);
but it does NOT seem to effectively dewater
I get more water in every sample than in the raw WVO
ALTHOUGH
I haven't had time to try brine wash of *filtered* WVO w/ *heat* settling
(this is my last best hope)
in general I get better results with filtered WVO (over raw) and with heat settling (over ambient)
note:
BS brine emulsion of RAW WVO, *heat* settled, DOES prefilter well
water ends up quite dark with much particulate
(must have heat to achieve this)
if you want to save on filters and are careful to dewater, this might be a good prefiltering option w/ added benefit of neutralization
my hope is to come up with an economical way to turn WVO back into near-virgin oil (unprocessed WVO seems to have a relatively short shelf life - my guess is that acids, sugars, etc encourage breakdown and rancidity)
rOLf
2 yrs and 50k mi on WVO - '93 VW EuroVan 2-tank w/ tank heat/HOH/10-micron heated Fleetguard, FPHE"
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