Hello Marc
Hello All,
I am a beginner with biodiesel and i did a lot of reading the last
few months and i did quite some test batches with unused sunflower
oil with the single stage method (as is advised).
Now i have some practical questions and theoretical questions.
Practical questions:
When you are finished with making the BD (ready to put in the car)
and you take a small sample of this and shake it with an equal
amount of water in a glass jar the water and BD separate, should
the BD layer be completey clean and clear after few minutes?
No matter how well-made and well-washed it is, after severe agitation
with water it will take a bit of time to clear. Micro-droplets of
water take time to settle.
How can you test if your final product is good enough to put in you car?
If the shake test before washing gives good results with no emulsion
forming, and you wash it repeatedly until the wash-water is clear,
with the same pH as your tap-water, then you can use it with
confidence.
I also have some questions about washing my test batches.
As i am a chemist and work in a laboratory all my test batches were
made in laboratory conditions.
After separating the glycerol layer from the BD layer, i washed the
BD 3 times with water.
Did you just wash it three times whatever or was the final batch of
wash-water clear?
Then i filtered the BD over a coffee filter and the BD looked really
nice (clean, clear). But when i shake this BD with water again, the
BD layer looks not clear again, and it looks like there is still
soap in it. How do you know when you are finished washing the BD
As above.
and should i filter it after every wash?
I don't see any point in filtering it.
Theoretical problems
I can't help with this I'm afraid, but it's interesting.
Best wishes
Keith
As i live in Holland and it can get very could in winter, i am also
interested in the 2 stage method because BD made with the 2 stage
method works better in colder conditions. But what is the chemical
difference between BD made with the single stage and BD with the
second stage?
In my laboratory we also analyze fatty acids and we also make FAME
to analyze with GC. The difference with making BD and FAME to
analyze with GC is that we also add Borotrifluoride-methanol complex
as a catalyst for...? Nobody at my jobs does know why and i asked 2
PhD in organic chemistry but they also dont know. So does anyone
know why this catalyst is added and what it does exactly. Would it
help us to when processing our BD?
Hopefully someone can help me.
Greetings,
Marc
I
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