Adverse BD reactions with various materials

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Adverse BD reactions with various materials

The reactive materials fall into 2 categories:
Those which cause a reaction affecting the biodiesel and those which are affected by biodiesel.

Materials affecting biodiesel[

• copper
• gal
• lead
• solder
• tin
• washer/seal/gasket: lead

Materials affected by biodiesel

• lexan thermoplastics- degraded by methanol- terminal brittleness
• O ring: rubber
• Paint
• plastic yoghurt pots
• Polystyrene cups
• Polycarbonate degraded by methanol-terminal brittleness
• PVC
• rubber
• washer/seal/gasket: rubber

[pangit Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close pangit]

Re: Adverse BD reactions with various materials

To add to the list I tested several types of glue:
Selleys Kwikgrip
Selleys Superglue
Araldite

They all seemed fine after 24 hours submerged in biodiesel, no noticeable loss of adhesion or consistency.

[Guest Close David]

Re: Adverse BD reactions with various materials

The US DOE says Aluminum is a suitable storage material for biodiesel.

Just as well!
I notice the fuel filter housing on My benz is made from ally or a compound thereof.
If aluminimum were reactive with Bio, it may be unuseable as a fuel because it could eat holes right through the Pistons in an engine or cause them to weaken and fail. That would be the end of bio as we know it!!

I have been reading up on the issue of copper and WVO/Bio. Seems there is no definative answer, some people report they have experienced it reacting and some say they have used it for years and it has been fine. Unfortunately one can never know all the factors that are at play. Maybe some people haven't washed all the Lye out of their bio or the WVO they used had some sort of caustic cleaning agent in it which caused the reaction. Maybe it didn't but who knows?

As there are no other materials that are as easy to come by, work with, strong and cheap as copper, I'll be using it in the fuel heater I'm building and seeing how it goes with the oil I'm using.

[gwalker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gwalker]

Re: Adverse BD reactions with various materials

To add to the list I tested several types of glue:
Selleys Kwikgrip
Selleys Superglue
Araldite

They all seemed fine after 24 hours submerged in biodiesel, no noticeable loss of adhesion or consistency.

What were you sticking together or were you testing them as a fill? - People in the states have reported using glue to 'fill' the bottom of tanks to remove any recess that stopped the tank draining completely.
George

[pangit Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close pangit]

Re: Adverse BD reactions with various materials

I cut strips off a Coke can and stuck them together with the glues. I also put blobs of glue onto the strips without sticking them to anything, so it would be fully exposed to the biodiesel.

So not exactly scientific, but it appears they all stand up to biodiesel at least in the short term.