"At Last...Washing Biodiesel And Quality Testing Without Headaches and Hassles"

Washing biodiesel is Here.

The No Fluff, No BS Guide to Washing and Quality Testing Biodiesel.

Now You Can Have Quality Biodiesel Even Better Than Some Commercial Dealers!

My methods are So Simple, Anyone Can Do It and Start Saving Money Today.

Biodiesel Test for Quality

Biodiesel test: Wash-test with unwashed biodiesel -- Right, after a violent 10-second shaking;

Left, biodiesel and water separated cleanly within minutes. The biodiesel will be cloudy, and the water can be milkier than this, but as long as it separates quickly and cleanly, it passes the test. There's more to it than this, so keep reading...

This is the most useful all-round biodiesel test, and it's very simple: Put 150 ml of unwashed biodiesel (settled for 12 hours or more, with the glycerine layer removed) in a half-litre glass jar. Add 150 ml of water, screw the lid on tight and shake it up and down violently for 10 seconds or more. Then let it settle. The biodiesel should separate from the water in half an hour or less, with amber biodiesel on top and milky water below. This is quality fuel, a completed product with minimal contaminants. Wash it, dry it and use it with confidence. Keep reading...

But if it turns into something that looks like mayonnaise and won't separate, or if it only separates very slowly, with a creamy white layer sandwiched between water and biodiesel, it's not quality fuel and your process needs improvement. Either you've used too much catalyst and made soap (better titration), or a poor conversion has left you with half-processed mono- and diglycerides, fuel contaminants that act as emulsifiers (better titration, try more methanol, better agitation, longer processing time, better temperature control), or both too much catalyst and poor conversion.

Whichever, you're headed for washing problems. Super-gentle washing techniques might avoid the problems, but you'll still be left with poor-quality fuel laced with contaminants that can cause injector coking and engine damage and they can't be washed out.
If you have an emulsion any thicker than the normal "paper thin" interface layer between oil and water, the batch should be retreated. Retreat as with virgin oil with the standard 3.5 g of lye per liter of oil but using only 100 ml methanol per liter of oil.

Bubble-washing is also gentle, and it's worth repeating the test with some washed fuel after bubble-washing -- it should separate from the water cleanly within a few minutes.