[Biofuel] Wash Water to Biodiesel Ratio?
A question for all you well-washed biodiesel homebrewers... Regardless of your particular washing methods, when all is said and done, how much total fresh water have you used for washing, per liter of fully washed biodiesel? FWIW, my ratio is about 1.3 water:biodiesel. Is that high, low, average? -K ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Wash Water to Biodiesel Ratio?
Ken Provost wrote: A question for all you well-washed biodiesel homebrewers... Regardless of your particular washing methods, when all is said and done, how much total fresh water have you used for washing, per liter of fully washed biodiesel? FWIW, my ratio is about 1.3 water:biodiesel. Is that high, low, average? -K In my experience, it seems really low. I've been adding water with a mister, to approximately equal the amount of BD to be washed, then use bubble wash. Drain, repeat. The number of times I repeat it, determined by the clarity of the drained wash water has been at a minimum of four, and as many as 7. Too much NaOH in my formula, perhaps? Thankfully, I have a good supply of water at my disposal, and making it available to the process is dependent on electricity to pump it from my own well... So at least I'm not pouring this much water into the system from a metered city-water supply. Any hints out there that will help me to clear my BD of soaps more economically will be very appreciated! doug swanson ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Wash Water to Biodiesel Ratio?
A question for all you well-washed biodiesel homebrewers... Regardless of your particular washing methods, when all is said and done, how much total fresh water have you used for washing, per liter of fully washed biodiesel? FWIW, my ratio is about 1.3 water:biodiesel. Is that high, low, average? -K Same with us Ken, about 1:3 water:biodiesel. Three washes, with 1/3rd water v/v biodiesel, and the washwater reused in the next batch of biodiesel, so each batch of washwater is used three times. Whether bubbled or stirred. We don't produce that much. Tick-over rate is about 120 litres a month, that's only 10 litres of washwater per week to dispose of, and it's innocuous anyway. Actually it's always more than tick-over, sometimes a lot more. We give quite a lot away for promotion, and we're right into the barter economy here, it's great for bartering (which also helps to promote it). At the moment I'm producing extra to run a diesel generator for a five-day summer festival at Kyoto University this month. Still, it's never enough for washwater disposal to be a problem. If it were we'd use Todd's method of applying it to the land. Regards Keith ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
Re: [Biofuel] Wash Water to Biodiesel Ratio?
On Jun 6, 2005, at 9:24 AM, Keith Addison wrote: Same with us Ken, about 1:3 water:biodiesel. Three washes, with 1/3rd water v/v biodiesel, and the washwater reused in the next batch of biodiesel, so each batch of washwater is used three times. I realized after sending the post that my ratio was ambiguously stated, with a decimal point easily mistaken for a colon. I actually use 1.28 liters of wash water per liter of final biodiesel, which is much more than your usage (tho apparently less than others' :-)). The breakdown is 0.16 in a glyc/water wash, 0.80 in a bulk stirred wash, and 0.32 in a single bubble wash. If I reused my water as you do (I'll try it!) I would approach your efficiency. Thanks for the replies, all -K ___ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
