Resin for purifying biodiesel - just released

[Dave]

Has anyone heard about this?


AMBERLITE DRY.

Its a resin that completely removes soap, glcyerin, and catalyst traces from biodiesel made from any feedstock, eliminating the need for washing.

1kg of the product treats between 900-1600kgs of biodiesel, depending on the quality of the biodiesel. Avg cost is $.035/gallon.

I cant figure out how to copy and paste the info here, as it is in an acrobat reader format, but if youre interested PM me your email address and ill send it to yuo along with the distributor.

[Robert]

Dave, can you please send the PDF to me and I'll add it. (you can also do it yourself by scrolling down to the "manage attachments" button in the "additional options" box underneath the "submit" button when you post a message). Pretty easy to do - just click browse and upload from your PC.
Still, if you have hassles doing this, just let me know and I'll do it for you.

Cheers,

[Tony From West Oz]

Just a word of caution,
There have been many products which promise to do everything but make your car run on water (oh yes, there were a couple of those too). Many even had "independant" test reports (not necessarily related to the product they were trying to sell) which extolled the virtues of the product.
Yet I cannot recall any that lasted more han a couple of months of actual usage before the severe limitations of the products came to light. Most just did not do anything other than lighten your wallet. (like magnets on your fuel lines).

On the Infopop biodiesel forum there is significant discussion of a product called Magnasol which has similar claims to this product.
Be sure to investigate thoroughly.

Its a resin that completely removes soap, glcyerin, and catalyst traces from biodiesel made from any feedstock, eliminating the need for washing.

It would be easy to test the resulting biodiesel for catalyst, using an acid titration using an indicator which changes at pH 6 and for soap using an acid titration using an indicator which changes at pH 4 (once the soap has been reacted back to FFA). A Gas Chromatograph can be used to identify glycerin in the biodiesel.

The alternatives are:
1. Wash and Dry the biodiesel. This can add to the time and byproduct disposal requirements. If water is scarce, this may not be an option.
2. Allow the biodiesel to settle for a long time (>4 weeks, preferrably >4 months), allowing any methanol to evaporate (or recover the methanol for re-use)
3. Use the biodiesel with as much settling as you can allow, then use the biodiesel unwashed. Ensure that your fuel filter has a generous water trap and electrical indicator of 'water in fuel' and drain off any byproduct which accumulates.

[Bio Popo]

Hey Tony,
Your third option there, just letting the bio settle and using it unwashed. How long would you say the minimum time for settling would have to be to not cause any serious harm to the engine? I am looking at driving approx. 3,000km on my biodiesel.
Also, I don't think my car has a 'water-in-fuel' warning (it's a 1983 peugeot 505), would that be serious?
And when you say drain the by-product that might accumulate, you mean after the reaction is complete and before you add it to your fuel tank right?
Oh, and would it be better if I did a 5% pre-wash and THEN let it settle for as long as possible before using? Or would that just add more water that would then take a long time to have 'dry'?
I made a batch on thursday night and washed it and let it dry overnight in the 20L carboy with the cap off and a fan blowing at the opening. I came back in the morning and it still looked like orange juice so I took the fan off and let it dry for another day. It still looked like OJ on saturday morning. I haven't checked it since, but an OJ like consistancy is definately something one would not want to put in their tank right? Also, I notice that when if I swirl the bio, small clouds of white appear. Does this mean there is still a bunch of soap left in the bio and I should wash some more?
Thanks!

Dave

[Tony From West Oz]

Hey Tony,
Your third option there, just letting the bio settle and using it unwashed. How long would you say the minimum time for settling would have to be to not cause any serious harm to the engine? I am looking at driving approx. 3,000km on my biodiesel.

Is that all? I would have thought that you would continue using biodiesel for the life of the vehicle.

Also, I don't think my car has a 'water-in-fuel' warning (it's a 1983 peugeot 505), would that be serious?
And when you say drain the by-product that might accumulate, you mean after the reaction is complete and before you add it to your fuel tank right?
Oh, and would it be better if I did a 5% pre-wash and THEN let it settle for as long as possible before using? Or would that just add more water that would then take a long time to have 'dry'?

You would drain off any byproduct before adding to the car, and you should do regular checks of the water separator, to ensure that no byproduct can get through the filter. This is where I was referring that you should "drain off any byproduct which accumulates."

I made a batch on thursday night and washed it and let it dry overnight in the 20L carboy with the cap off and a fan blowing at the opening. I came back in the morning and it still looked like orange juice so I took the fan off and let it dry for another day. It still looked like OJ on saturday morning. I haven't checked it since, but an OJ like consistancy is definately something one would not want to put in their tank right? Also, I notice that when if I swirl the bio, small clouds of white appear. Does this mean there is still a bunch of soap left in the bio and I should wash some more?
Thanks!

Dave

If the biodiesel is cloudy, regardless of the colour, it contains water. If you have a wispy white stuff which mixes with thebiodiesel, it may be due to partly reacted oils which have an affinity for water. If your biodiesel has cooled significantly and some high Melting Point oils were used in the process, the white stuff may in fact be high melting point biodiesel, which is below its cloud point.

[Bio Popo]

Hey Tony,
What about this question "Oh, and would it be better if I did a 5% pre-wash and THEN let it settle for as long as possible before using? Or would that just add more water that would then take a long time to have 'dry'?"
Also, could you clarify what you mean about high melting point oil and the white wispy stuff? I belive the oil I got was used cottonseed oil.
Also, the water seperator? Do you know what this looks like or where I would find it in a peugeot engine?
Thanks!

[Terry Syd]

BP, you can use unwashed biodiesel and it "won't harm the engine", however it can plug up the fuel filter with glycerin that settles out in the tank. I know of heaps of people that are using unwashed biodiesel. My brother runs unwashed that has only settled overnight. He also has two water traps on his fuel line. When the second water traps gets some glycerin in it, he empties both water traps. He does this about once a week. He also checks the oil, windshield wiper reservoir and radiator coolant while he is under the bonnet. He also only uses 15% methoxide for the reaction. His old 300D Mercedes loves the low conversion, unwashed biodiesel. He just bought a second Mercedes a 300TD that has much better power.

If you get a clogged fuel filter from glycerin, just wash it out with water, dry it with some alcohol and put it back on the vehicle.

Once you do the pre-wash, you are already washing and introducing water into the fuel. That is why the biodiesel becomes cloudy. The 5% pre-wash will do a good job of removing a lot of the glycerin and release the bound up biodiesel in the glycerin. However, if you want a better wash you can bump up the pre-wash to 10% or 15% of water. This will increase the amount of byproduct by a considerable amount, something that most biodieselers already have a problem with, but if you can handle the extra byproduct, then you will get a better pre-wash using the higher percentages of water.

The results from a 15% pre-wash are quite significant. You may decide that you don't need to do any further washing. Or, you can just do one further wash and then let settle. Once you have removed the settled water the 'orange juice' biodiesel will contain lots of water. You will need to dry it. Letting it sit in an open container will take a week or more to dry (depending on relative humidity). If you want to accelerate the process, then get a fish tank pump and use that to bubble air through the biodiesel. It may only take an overnight bubbling to get the biodiesel dry.

[Bio Popo]

Hi Terry,
If my goal for using biodiesel is to ease my imprint on the earth, is not washing the fuel ok? i.e. does unwashed biodiesel burn dirtier than washed biodiesel?
Also, when you talk about the disposal of by-product as being a problem, I was under the impression that the by-product could simply be put down a drain or onto a lawn. Maybe not in large quantities, but I am only doing 15L batches. I read this in various posts and on a few websites. I thought the same was true for wash water.
But thank you VERY much for you info, it has helped tremendously.

Dave

[Bio Popo]

Hey Terry,
I looked at aquarium pumps today, and the problem is that they require power. As I will be travelling around in my car, relying on a power source to dry is impractical. There were battery powered models, but apparently these don't have quite the amount of output that regular ones do. There are also ones that can run off a car battery, but as the drying would most likely be done overnight as you said (~8hrs?), I would be squeamish about leaving it run for so long on the battery.
So now I am considering not washing the fuel, apparently there is a water filter on my car (I have an inline filter as well as a regular fuel filter), but is that enough? What are the risks of skipping the washing process? Keeping in mind that I will only be running on bio for ~6000km (not by choice, but just because that's how long I will be the owner of the car). I could probably let the fuel settle for a few days, would that help? Would I have to drain anything off after those few days?
Thanks a lot,

Dave

[Terry Syd]

Letting it settle for a few days is a lot better than just overnight. You might be surprised at how much additional glycerin will drop out over those few days.

I would suggest you get an additional water trap that has a clear glass bowl and install it before your existing filter. You will be able to see the glycerin build up and when it does, just open the petcock on the bowl and drain it out.

Have a second fuel filter handy so that you can quickly replace a clogged filter. Then you can wash the clogged filter out and let it dry so it can be ready if you again clog the filter.

A 'Mister Funnel' can be used to clean up the fuel if you get water droplets in the fuel. I don't know how well it works with droplets of glycerin. The funnel has a teflon screen to stop the water. It will not stop water that is in solution or is emulsified in the fuel, it only stops water that has settled out.