I have to say I'm starting to change my mind about acid in the wash,
but I think it has to be used a bit more scientifically than just
'adding some' which is how homebrewers seem to use it. I"ve messed up
a batch while experimenting that way not too long ago, overdid it on
the HCL and a serious mess happened (it looked like emulsion and it
had a high acid number on a titration (1.5) which wouldn't wash out. I
eventually washed the hell out of it, and diluted it with a very high
percentage of good fuel before using). So I still don't recommend
acidulating as a matter of course, unless you know what you're doing.
It can be done right if you do a titration for soap/catalyst first to
find out how much acid to use (that HCL/ bromophenol blue indicator
titration that Juan described a week or so ago). Industry does it, but
they also don't make particularly soapy biodiesel in the first place
(because of using new oil or using acid-base ffa pretreatment), so the
amount of ffa that is released when they acidulate isn't as large as
it could be in a really problematic batch made by one of us...
I want to make a comment on acid-base biodiesel, though- the one thing
about it is that is different than singlestage biodiesel, is that you
absolutely, positively must wash it. Think what you want about washing
in general but for this method it's not an option not to wash. Fuel
made with acid pretreatment contains water-soluble sodium sulfate
formed by the neutralising of the sulfuric acid by some of the
catalyst, and until you wash that stuff out, it's sulfur in your
tailpipe emissions. For those wondering about how much of a danger it
is that some sulfur might be left (I hear this question all the time)-
well, the commercial guys who make fuel this way, pass the ASTM test
for sulfur, and for various reasons they don't wash their fuel quite
as thoroughly as homebrewers, so I assume it must wash out quite well.
> Note also that you don't have to wash biodiesel made by the
Foolproof
> method any special way. That's how Aleks does it, and that's fine,
> but once it's settled and the by-product ("glycerine") layer at the
> bottom removed, biodiesel is biodiesel and washing it is washing it,
> no matter what process you used. So you can decide for yourself
> what's best fo
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