Today I got my Wash Pro Stainless Steel Washer & Dryer from Utah Biodiesel Supply and I installed it on one of my wash tanks, where I had been bubble washing my latest batch for about a week. The washwater was still a bit soapy, but it looked like it was pretty well done. I drained it and used the Wash Pro to add fresh was water. Then I hooked up the wash tank to the pump and recirculated the wash water spraying it on the biodiesel. The pump is pretty strong and after about 15 Minutes all the water was totally blended with the biodiesel. There was no separation at all. I let it settle for an hour and did it again. After the second go-around the water was completely white with soap! That is totally amazing. This little bit of stainless steel is going to make a big difference in the quality of my fuel – at least as far as the soap is concerned.

Just how bad the effects of the soap actually are is not totally clear to me. Daniel Sheedy of Environment Australia, argues it’s no big deal at all (see section 6.16). I don’t think it can be good for the performance of the fuel.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 27th, 2006 at 10:19 pm and is filed under Biodiesel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.