How Do Biodiesel Filtering Systems Work?

Use of biodiesel fuel seems to be the panacea for dealing with petroleum crisis and its soaring prices. The recycling of used oil is not only eco-friendly, but is also economical. According to a recent study conducted in United States, around 300 million gallons of used oil are thrown in sewer drains which pollutes approximately 1 million gallons of water in the U.S. Biodiesel blend, which is a combination of petrol and biodiesel, has become very popular in recent times; but for it to be used as fuel, it has to undergo a refining process because dirty oil may lead to clogging of fuel injection systems.

Biodiesel Filter System

• The biodiesel filter system is a series of processes by which all the contaminants in the used oil is removed to get a clear clean reusable oil. First, the large dirt particles are removed and then the smaller ones successively. Heating of the biodiesel oil hastens the process of filtration, but care should be taken that oil which has a high melting point is allowed to pass through the filter.

Ratings

• Ratings are provided to the filters used for filtering biodiesel fuel. These filters are graded in microns, but these ratings cannot be very reliable as there are no standard tests to measure their consistency. The impurities which can be filtered through these filters depend upon the conditions and temperature at which they are filtered. So, it becomes difficult to generalize the ratings of biodiesel filtering system.

Biodiesel Bags

• Biodiesel filter bags and cartridge biodiesel filters are used to filter biodiesel oil. The biodiesel bags which work on the principle of gravity feed are made of varying materials and sizes. Cartridge filters are pump-based filters and are used for filtering large quantities of biodiesel oil.

How Biodiesel Filtering Systems Work

• There are various methods by which the biodiesel filtering systems work. In some cases, the used oil is heated first and then the hot oil is filtered with pumps. Centrifugal separators are also used to increase the speed of filtering.

  The most common method used for filtering biodiesel is gravity oil filtering because it is more economical. This method is very easy and quite effective too.

  The third procedure involves certain steps: 1) Biodiesel oil is filtered to 10 to 30 microns, 2) It is heated to a temperature ranging from 80 degrees F, 3) Oil is then kept in an insulated drum for eight hours.

Considerations

• Biodiesel filters should have qualities like excellent filtering, chemical compatibility and high temperature properties to make them the best filtering systems. They should be able to withstand high temperatures and able to filter chemicals like acids, alkaline solutions and solvents. The best filter is supposed to have a rating of 5 micron. All these properties should be present in a biodiesel filtering system to make it work at its best.