What It Is:
This method involves "pre-washing" Biodiesel with a little water after it's reacted but beforethe glycerin begins to settle. Adding the water to the mixture before glycerin separation aids in removing the water soluble methanol, glycerol, and other contaminants. In use, this has been shown to significantly reduce the amount of soap, glycerin, and methanol left in the Biodiesel once the glycerin has separated.

5% Pre-Wash Benefits:
- Faster glycerin separation from reacted Biodiesel
- Better removal of methanol from Biodiesel
- Results in less soap formation during waster washing
- Requires less water to completely water wash the Biodiesel
- When dry-washing, reduced methanol levels allow for better soap removal with ion exchange resins
- Results in ion exchange resins lasting longer (because there's less soap to be removed)

How To Do It:
1) Figure out how much 5% of your total batch size would be (oil + methoxide).
2) Mix your oil & methoxide together as normal
3) Just before shutting down the mixer or pump, add the 5% water
4) Continue to mix for about 15-20 minutes
5) Shut the mixing down and allow the glycerin to separate as normal
6) Commence washing your fuel

Example:
40 gal oil + 8 gal methoxide = 48 gal liquid
48 x 0.05 = 2.4 gallons
After reacting for the normal period of time for the equipment, add 2.4 gallons of water to the processor. Allow it to mix into the batch for 15 to 20 minutes. Then separate the glycerin.

Additional Notes:
1) Ensure Fuel Is Reacted Before Adding Water
It's important that you ensure your fuel is well reacted before adding the water. Once the water hits the oil/methoxide mixture, it'll stop the reaction dead in it's tracks. Some people pull a sample of their mixing fuel prior to adding the water, quickly separate the glycerin (allow it to settle in a vial), and run a 3/27 Conversion Teston it.

If it passes, they go ahead & add the water. If it doesn't they continue to let the reaction run and pull a test again a few minutes later.

2) Adding Water To Glycerin Makes It Difficult To Recover Methanol
When adding water to the process before glycerin separation, a large majority of the water will end up in the glycerin. This will mix with the methanol in the glycerin and can cause problems when trying to recover methanol from the glycerin (because the water will come out with the methanol resulting in fairly wet methanol).

3) Using With The 80/20 Method
- Don't add water until the "20% Reaction" part
- When adding the water, also re-add all the glycerin removed during the 80% part
- Otherwise, too little glycerin in the mix can cause emulsions to occur

Additional Resources:
Biodiesel Tutorial 5% Glycerin Pre-Wash
Make-Biodiesel 5% Glycerin Pre-Wash

 

Introduction:
Bubbling air into Biodiesel has been around as a method for cleansing the fuel almost from the beginning. However, it's always been utilized during the water washing process to help agitate water up into the Biodiesel layer or as a method for drying the water out of the cleansed fuel.

In this case, however, it's utilized BEFORE  any water washing or dry washing is performed. After the glycerin has been removed from the fuel, air bubbles are passed through the fuel for a period of time to help accelerate the evaporation of methanol from the Biodiesel. By removing a portion of the excess methanol from the Biodiesel, soap suspended by methanol separates and falls to the bottom of the vessel.

When properly performed, this method can greatly reduce methanol and soap left over in the Biodiesel prior to washing it. By reducing the methanol and soap amounts, washing can occur much more rapidly and less water may be required to fully cleanse the fuel of it's impurities.

If the fuel is to be dry washedthrough ion exchange resins (such as Thermaxor Purolite) or cellulose material (such as Eco2Pure), bubbling with air can greatly increase the life of the dry wash media.

How To Do It:
1) Process the Biodiesel as normal
2) Allow the glycerin to settle and remove it from the Biodiesel
3) Place a bubbler into the Biodiesel and with the lid to the vessel open, bubble aggressively for at least 8-10 hours
4) Blowing air ACROSS the opening of the vessel (not into the vessel, but across the top of it) will help to pull the evaporated methanol up and away
5) Turn off the bubbler and allow the Biodiesel to settle for 2-4 hours
6) Remove anything that settles to the bottom (most likely soap)
7) Proceed to wash the fuel

Example Bubbler Setup:
This bubbler setup, available on our website, works great with vessels that are up to 65 gallons.



It's made with a lime wood bubble stone,a variable flow air pump, some aquarium tubingand small air fittings.

You can use pretty much anything that's compatible with Biodiesel to bubble with. Even a piece of 1/4" tubing for plumbing water to a refrigerator works well! The air supply can come from something as small as an aquarium pumpor as large as an air compressor. The goal is to simply bubble large amounts of air through the reacted Biodiesel.

Additional Notes:
- Be sure the area you're bubbling the Biodiesel in is well ventilated as you'll be evaporating methanol into the air
- Ensure that the bubbler is near the bottom of the vessel and that the air supply is sufficient to generate aggressive bubbles
- It's helpful to use a vessel that fully drains at the bottom to ensure full removal of any settled soaps
- Bubbling can possibly oxidize the Biodiesel. If you plan on storing the Biodiesel for extended periods of time (3-4+ months), you may want to add an oxidative stabilizerto the fuel afterward
- If it's possible to heat the Biodiesel while bubbling, it will help remove methanol faster.

Happy Bubbling!

 

We have some exciting news about existing products, re-releases of old products, and a few new products that have been released in the last two months.





75 Micron Bucket & Drum Oil Filters!
The manufacturer of our famous bucket and 55 Gal DrumFilters have released a new smaller 75 micron size for these great filters. We just received these in stock and now have them available on our site!


These strainers are extremely durable and can handle literally thousands of gallons of oil going through them before they wear out. We had one customer report running over 10,000+ gallons through one! They've always been a popular item on our site and now with the smaller micron size, they're even more versatile!
Click here to see the 55 Gallon Drum Strainers
Click here to see the 5 Gallon Bucket Strainers


12/24 Volt Portable Oil Transfer Pump

We're excited to announce the return of our popular
12/24 DC Volt Oil Transfer Pump! This great pump was unavailable for a while, but has now been re-released by the manufacturer. We were able to secure several of these pumps for our store and now have them ready to ship!

If you've never used one before, you'll be amazed at how well they perform! Unlike several other transfer pumps, this one was designed FROM THE GROUND UPto pump thick oil! I've personally used these pumps several times, have always loved the results and am absolutely thrilled to discover that they're available again. If you're looking for a tough 12 volt transfer pump, this is it!
Click here to learn more about this exciting pump!


The B100 Biodiesel Station Map

Biodiesel Smarterrecently released a really cool map of the United States that shows all of the gas stations across the US that have B100 Biodiesel available at a pump for public purchase.

Each stations name, address, and phone number is listed in an easy to read format making it a great traveling companion for your cross country road trips!

When it's completely laid open it stretches to a gorgeous 22" tall by 34" wide and folds down to a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

It makes a great wall poster, traveling companion, and even a great piece of history of the Biodiesel movement! It can be purchased separately or as part of the set of back issues.
Click here to read more about this exciting new map!



Liquid Biodiesel Glycerin Soap


We're excited to introduce a really cool line of Biodiesel glycerin based liquid soaps. These come from the Knice-N-Clean Soap Making Company and have incredible fragrances! They've figured out how to make some of the clearest, most transparent Biodiesel glycerin based liquid soap we've seen!

Available in two lines, the Essentially Yours and the Naturally Yours, there's sure to be a fragrance available that your sniffer will love! As with all Knice N Clean Soaps, these soaps are incredibly moisturizing, have a great feel to them, and perform extremely well! They're available individually or as a sampler pack. Pick some up today!
Learn more about these exciting new fragrances here!


WVO Designs Is Releasing A Monster Centrifuge!

WVO Designs, manufacturer of the Raw Power Centrifugeand the Monster Gear Pump, are getting ready to release a monstrous new 210 oz centrifuge with an optional self-cleaning vessel. You can see the massive size difference above with their standard RPC centrifuge on the left and the huge to-be-released centrifuge on the right.

With it's massive bowl, rotor, and motor, it should easily be able to handle flow rates from 50 Gallons Per Hour clear up to an amazing 100 Gallons Per Hour!

Base pricing will be around $5,000 with a pre-release beta model being made available for around $4,000 with a $2,000 deposit. You can learn more about this exciting new centrifuge by visiting the WVO Designs blog. Once released, we'll be making this monster available as well. Click here to read more about this exciting new forthcoming centrifuge!Be sure to sign up on their site to receive details or watch our newsletters for more information.


Free Shipping On All Decals & Magnets!

We're excited to announce that we now have free shipping on all of our high quality vinyl decals and magnets! These decals are a great way to promote Biodiesel in your community, on your car, or on your Biodiesel equipment.

The decals are made of high quality vinyl and can stand up to some serious abuse! The majority come in green, white, and white mirror (mirror decals adhere to the INSIDE of a rear car window but still read correctly when looking at the window from the back of the car). Check out all our great decals, magnets, license surrounds, emblems, and our great selection of bumper stickersand promotional apparelas well!