Measure twice, cut once....DOH!

Well, I was delayed in getting Jerry Rig II up and running due to a dumb mistake in measurement. I was in the process of cutting a hole to mount the water heater element and upon inserting the element I realized I cut the hole just a smidge to big. Rather than using the inner diameter of the fitting I used the outer diameter. DOH! Being so busy with work and family I haven't had a chance to find a gasket and washer to try and fix my error. But in the mean time I've processed yet another 30+ gallons with Jerry Rig I.

I also had another minor set back in that both of my resin towers had a malfunction. Due to the weight of the resin and biodiesel in the towers they screens began sagging and came loose on one side thus allowing the resin to flow out. Due to the design I followed there's no easy way of repairing the screens as they are glued in. The design should have included some type of support structure to hold up the screens under load. I'm in the process of redesigning and modifying the design to allow for repairs and access to the screens. Here's a diagram of my idea.

Quick "N" Dri

Read about this stuff that you run your biodiesel or WVO through to remove water at Utah Biodiesel Supply. It's called Quick "N" Dri.

Basically you build a tower, not unlike the Purolite resin tower, and then you just run your biodiesel or WVO through it to remove your water. Apparently a single pound will remove 12 gallons of water before needing to be regenerated. Regeneration is nothing more than letting the stuff sit out in the sun and dry out! For the price I'm going to have to order some and test it out.

Proof in the Pudding (Purolite that is!)

Just wanted to share some pictures of the Purolite results.  In the first image you see the biodiesel in it's raw form after the removal of the glyerol.  Next to it is a small sample of the same biodiesel after it's journey through the Purolite resin tower.  As you can see it's clarity is amazing!

In the last image I added water to simulate a water wash to remove out remaining impurities and soap.  I gently agitated the two samples and you can see the amount of soap (white water at the bottom) that the raw sample had in it.  The water in the Purolite sample is clear as can be!  Using water to get the biodiesel to this stage would have take the better part of 2 days to wash and dry before I could use it.

As you can see the Purolite definitely delivers on it's claims.

And the results!?

Finished processing using the 80/20 recipe and the results were great!  Batch passed the 3/27 test with no fall out or settling what so ever, basically means I had a very complete reaction which is a good thing.

Afterwards I decided to run the biodiesel through one of my resin towers manually.  I poured in a pint of unwashed biodiesel in 15 minute intervals that in the end yielded me nearly 5 gallons worth.  When compared with the unwashed sample it was much clearer but I decide to test for soap content.

Took one sample and poured in hot water and soap began to drop out pretty fast, no agitating required.  Within 5 minutes I had very white layer of water/soap at the bottom of this sample.  Took a sample from the resin washed and repeated the same process.  NO SOAP what so ever!  Water stayed clear the entire time.  Went one step further and shook this sample to see if any soap would fall out.  Drum roll please....................NO SOAP STILL!  Poured the 5 gallons into tank this morning and life is good.  I'll be dry washing the remaining 6 gallons tonight to put into the tank

So, in summary from processing to tank using the resin towers takes 24 hours. 

I'm sold on the resin!