The (Bio) Saga Continues

So, I started that first batch of biodiesel on Nov. 19th, before I left for the Thanksgiving holiday the next day. Well, word to the wise, don't rush; it just isn't worth it.

Besides getting the WVO into the reactor for processing, the reaction went very smoothly. I'll have to devise some other solution to "load" the reactor.... this will be a manual process until then.

The settling even went well. After less than an hour, the glycerin dropped out as it should. I let it settle for a while longer, but probably could have stood to wait more time (if I weren't rushing). I was even impressed with the transfer from the settling tank to the wash tank (this actually worked better than I had anticipated -- after seeing how lousy the pump work to suck up the initial WVO for processing). The pump did leave a small portion of bio in the lines, but this should not be a problem to further batches.

The problem arose when I attempted to wash the biodiesel. I should have tested a small batch prior to adding the water (among other things... but come on.... I was excited). So, the inevitable happened. I got an emulsion.
My garage (where I am doing all of this) is quite cold these days being in Colorado in the winter.

Well, I figured that if we got a few warm days while I was away, the emulsion may break.... I was trying to be optimistic; so shoot me.
Since the emulsion didn't break, I have since taken a small test batch of the glop and added back some glycerin. Wow did that work out well. That in a bath of warm water for just a few seconds worked wonders immediately. The emulsion broke and it looked like biodiesel again (just dark since it had the glycerin in it). After letting this sit, I could begin to see the glycerin settle out to the bottom.

When I get some time later this week, I will add back a good portion of the glycerin, mix it up and add a little heat if I can. If this works as I assume, I'll let this sit for a while and drain off the glycerin and water. Then I can do some testing and see if I can figure out why the batch emulsified in the first place.

To be continued....