Scale model Biodiesel reactor, 1st run virgin soy oil:

Yesterday and today we started up our scale model to test the ability of our pump to mix the reactants in our tubs. The preliminary results seem to be promising! The pump will move the viscous oil at a mere 20 psi which was the lower limit for our water test. We found that the pump and pipes will retain about 500 mL of fluid which can usually be flushed out by allowing the pump move air through at the end of the run. We also separated the product and washed them differently. The sep funnel on the left was washed only with 300 mL of water with a spray bottle, the one to the right was washed this way as well along with the agitation of an air pump and bubbler tip. After the second wash (shown) the wash technique using the bubbler seemed to create a "cleaner" biodiesel.