My B-100 turned to cottage cheese, need guidance

[orcastow]

Posted 01 January 2008 03:58 PM
I buy B-100 from a local distributer that gets the fuel from Whole Energy, Washington, I have had no issues since 2001, I am careful when the weather gets near freezing to mix 50% petroleum in my 2 tow trucks.
I have a 300 gallon tote that is outside & in the past have seen it turn white at around freezing then turn back to normal at around 40 degrees, no problems.
link to pic's
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This fall when the weather got around freezing the tote turned white, no big deal I'll just buy petroleum until it turns back, well it has been warm & never turned back, I took a sample of my cottage cheese in my 65 degree shop & it still wouldn't turn, I heated it up & it went back to liquid but the next day was solid white & waxy again.
My supplier says he has had some issues due to selling me a summer blend, also he thinks it has water in it, I know it has not had anything other than maybe condensation from being outside & have a hard time swallowing the water thought since I never had any issues like this in the past 7 years, I have 6 inches of this glop in the bottom of my tank & my supplier filled the tote with a winter blend thinking it would mix together but no luck, I cannot use the fuel as it immediatley plugs the large fuel filter with this cottage cheese, any idea's? Thanks

[Spencnaz]

Sounds to me that he's right, there is water in that fuel. There's really no way to fully get that water out unless you heat it above 150F and drive off the water via evaporation.

It may not be fully reacted biodiesel either. Commercial suppliers seem to be having quality issues due to large demands and not enough time for quality control.

I recommend that you perform the 3/27 test on this fuel. Here are the directions and a link for further study. It's really simple to do and will tell you right away the quality of the fuel you make or purchase.

This is a quick Pass/Fail conversion test for your biodiesel and works because biodiesel will dissolve into methanol while triglycerides do not dissolve in methanol.
It works with washed and dried, or unwashed biodiesel that is well settled.

Equipment needed

1. Something to measure out 27 ml of methanol.
2. A small container in which to put the 27ml of methanol. I used a small glass jar about 11cm (4.5”) high and 5cm (2.5”) across
3. A 3ml syringe without the sharp. These cost me 15c each from my pharmacy and I used a new one for each test.
4. Biodiesel to be tested.

Procedure
1. Insure the jar is spotlessly clean and dry.
2. Put 27ml of room temperature (20- 22deg C) methanol into the jar.
3. Use the syringe to put exactly 3ml of the room temperature biodiesel under test into the methanol.
4. Put top on Jar.
5. Shake jar hard for 5 seconds.

If the biodiesel completely dissolves into the methanol and no oil settles out on the bottom of the container you have very high conversion biodiesel.


There are vids on youtube showing the test as well.

[orcastow]

Thanks, I'll try the test, should I include some of this cottage cheese & will that tell me if it is water intrusion?