TO LAB TEST A SAMPLE OF AMBERLITE™ BD10DRY™ PURIFICATION MEDIA

To test Amberlite™ BD10DRY™ purification media we encourage you to use the "contaminated biodiesel" that has been well-separated from the glycerol phase after your transesterification process. This biodiesel should not be dried and preferably contains methanol traces. From experience, this phase usually contains less than 400 ppm of impurity cations from soap and catalyst. You can also prepare test solutions using pure biodiesel spiked with catalyst.

a) Column Purification Mode

Amberlite™ BD10DRY™ is a specialty polymer media that is most effective at removing impurities and glycerol traces when used in a "column mode". For lab testing, a glass column with roughly a 10:1 height:width ratio is recommended. A suitable column can be obtained from Ace Glass (Vineland, NJ; part number 5820-30; 25mm (1 inch) diameter by 300 mm (12 inch) length). A bed support must be used to keep the polymer beads in the column while allowing the biodiesel to easily flow through. Generally, glass frits or a stainless steel screen can be used for this purpose where the openings in the screen are no greater than about 0.18mm (80 mesh).

The column should be loaded about 1/4 full with biodiesel and the Amberlite™ BD10DRY™ media is then poured into the column. The presence of a liquid "heel" in the column helps to ensure uniform packing of the beads as they are loaded which minimizes possible channeling or flow distribution irregularities.
The column should be filled no more than 1/3 full with Amberlite™ BD10DRY™ media in order to allow for expansion of the resin as it removes impurities. Avoid contacting the media with pure methanol or water as this will cause it to swell up to 3 times in volume and the glass column can shatter if insufficient void space is left at the top of the column.

A liquid head of at least 25 mm (1 inch) should be maintained above the resin to prevent air infiltration into the bed. Gravity feed can then be used to pass contaminated biodiesel through the bed, although a pump will allow more precise control of flowrate.

The flowrate of the biodiesel in the column should be around 3 L/hour of biodiesel per kg of Amberlite™ BD10DRY™ in the column (0.36 gallon/hour per lb). With gravity flow, the flowrate can be easily controlled by using a pinchcock on a rubber hose connected to the column outlet fitting. The biodiesel recovered at the bottom of the column can then be analyzed.

b) Batch Purification Mode

Amberlite™ BD10DRY™ technology will yield the best results (lowest concentration of catalyst, soap, and glycerol in the treated biodiesel) when used in a column purification mode (see above). Use in a batch purification mode is therefore not recommended. It is, however, a quick and easy way to demonstrate the performance of Amberlite™ BD10DRY™ technology.

• Pour 10 g of Amberlite™ BD10DRY™ media into a glass vessel (e.g. a beaker).
• Add 100 mL of contaminated biodiesel and stir gently for one hour.
• Decant the biodiesel and analyze.