How to Water Wash in Your 1-Liter Batch of Biodiesel

It is simple to water wash a 1 liter batch of biodiesel. It will only take a few minutes of your day, but it will be a couple of weeks before it is complete. You will be washing biodiesel once a day for approximately 5 days, and then you will let it air dry for a week or more.

You will need:

• your '1-liter batch' of biodiesel

• a cup (to stabilize the 1-liter bottle when upside down)

• a medium sized container with a small nozzle you can squeeze water out of (I cleaned out a dish soap bottle).

• pH strips

• disposable container that holds at least 1/2 liter.

Water Washing a 1-Liter Batch:

Fill the water container up with room temperature tap water.

Tilt the liter of biodiesel to the side, and trickle water into it using the water container. When washing biodiesel, it is especially important on the first wash that the water hits the biodiesel VERY GENTLY so it will not cause an emulsion. Add approximately as much water as there is biodiesel.

Screw the cap back on the bottle tightly, gently rotate it upside down and set it upside down in the cup to rest.

Let the biodiesel rest for 24 hours. When you come back it should look like this. There may be a small layer of emulsion.

Leaving the bottle upside down, drain the wash water by slowly loosening the cap on the bottle and squeezing the waste water out into a disposable container. If you have a small emulsion drain that out too.

Now repeat the above steps until the drained wash water is the same pH as the tap water from your faucet.

With each progressive wash however, you will get slightly more aggressive with the mixing. It will go like this:

1st wash - no mixing.

2nd wash - gently rotate the bottle for 30 seconds.

3rd wash - gently rotate for 1 minute.

4th wash - gently shake for 1 minute.

5th wash - shake aggressively for 1 minute.

If any additional washes are needed, just repeat the steps for the 5th wash.

After you've drained the water for the last time, set the bottle upright with the lid off. Now let it set until all the water evaporates - approx. 1 week. When all water has evaporated it will look like this!

Click here to learn how to water wash large quantities of biodiesel.