Thanks Keith,
As it turns out, between posting this message and receiving your reply I
did some thinking and came up with the same solution.
I've washed this batch twice since and the PH is coming up slowly,
currently about PH 6.5. Tap water here is about PH 7.6 so I estimate
another two or three washes will do it, maybe. Lots of water unfortunately
however I suppose it can't be avoided. Not good considering Sydney is on
level 3 water restrictions caused no doubt by the urban sprawl, drought
conditions and infrastructure not keeping pace.
I was thinking, is it possible to speed this process up and reduce the
water used by using someting like Bi-carb Soda in the wash water to
neutralise the acid further? Or would this complicate things?
I'm hoping I can manage to do the necessary washes and dry the fuel before
I hit the road at the end of the week.
Thanks again Keith for your advise, much appreciated.
Mick
Hello Mick
Hi Guys.
I was hoping this day would never come.
Ive been making Bio from WVO for over 12 months now with great success
using the standard Base catalyst method.
I run it in my 1992 80 series Toyota Land Cruiser with about 340,000 Km
on
the clock and she purrs like a Kitten.
I find the web site an excellent wealth of knowledge and a great place
to
learn the different theories and ideas from other like minded soles.
Up until now reading and re reading this info has been of great
assistance
to me when in doubt/trouble, however this time Ive ended up with 180
liters of Bio with a PH of 5.8. after stuffing up the calculations
with
the acid quench in the wash water.
I now find myself with a self induced problem with this latest batch
and I
would like to ask the mailing list for advice so I can go on my annual
camping trip and not have to pay $1.30/Litre at the pump here in
Sydney.
I have done a tritation of the washed bio and it gave me a 0.075
tritation
as per the 'Better tritation method. I'm concerned that I have converted
some of the Bio back to FFA's.
If the pH is below 7 then you'll get a positive titration reading,
but I don't see the point of titrating it. If you have converted
biodiesel back to FFA it sure won't be much. The low-ish pH reading
is much more likely to be due to residues of the acid you used in the
wash quench. It can take quite a lot of qwashing to get it out. Keep
on washing it until the pH returns to something near neutral (or the
same as your wash water).
My questions are:-
A. Is this enough catalist to neutralize the acid?
B. If so how much Methanol should I use for the reaction?
C. Is this the best method to bring this batch back to PH 7?
You're planning to neutralise the excess acid you used in the wash
quench by re-processing the biodiesel? Overkill, just wash it some
more, maybe quite a lot more. If that doesn't work then we can think
again.
Best
Keith
Thanks
Mick Ellis
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