Durco Biodiesel Equipment – Biodiesel Dry Washing & Filtration Systems Delivered

August 6, 2007 – Durco Biodiesel Equipment (a division of Ascension Industries Inc.), recently announced a new range of Biodiesel Dry Washing & Filtration Systems that significantly reduce both process time and costs compared to traditional water or bubble washing techniques. The revolutionary new biodiesel systems were developed over the past two years from the company’s range of vegetable oil dry washing systems that have been proven in service since the 1970’s

Michael DuVal (a Durco Filtration Applications Engineer) explained: “The new range of biodiesel dry washing and filtration units use newly developed shear-blending equipment and a magnesium silicate additive that efficiently adsorb all unwanted liquid-phase components from a transesterified biodiesel process stream. A following filtration step (using either biodiesel filter press or biodiesel pressure leaf filter technology) then separates the purified methyl ester liquid biodiesel from the solid adsorbent and clarifies it for sale as high quality biodiesel fuel. Unlike traditional biodiesel washing systems (which produce hazardous liquid waste streams), the by-product of the new dry washing process is a solid filter cake.

The new range of dry washing systems is suitable for biodiesel plants producing 1M gal/yr or considerably more, depending upon filtration technology chosen:
- Biodiesel Filter Press Technology (<10Mgal/yr, per filter unit, at temperatures up to 170oF)
- Biodiesel Pressure Leaf Filter Technology (typically >10M gal/yr or much higher, with essentially unlimited high temperature capability for enhanced biodiesel washing).

These new Durco Biodiesel Dry Washing & Filtration Systems can be configured for continuous or batch operations with manual, semi-automatic, or fully automatic operation. They reduce overall biodiesel production time and cost because they eliminate the need for an oil/water emulsion separation stage or a drying stage. This also significantly reduces biodiesel plant start-up and operating costs by eliminating the capital and maintenance associated with the traditional washing equipment.”

The company recently announced the delivery of two turnkey biodiesel dry washing systems to US biodiesel plants:
1. The first system delivered is currently operating in the Upper Mid-West US. This particular biodiesel purification and clarification unit is capable of dry washing and filtering up to 1 Million gallons of crude biodiesel per year. It consists of a magnesium silicate dry washing tank and a biodiesel-rated Durco Sidebar Filter Press - specifically chosen for this project because of its’ low capital cost and low lead-time to operation.
2. The second system shipped to a Texas-based biodiesel manufacturing plant early last month. This automatic biodiesel processor consists of a mixing unit for dry washing the biodiesel and a Durco Biodiesel-Rated Filter Press for final filtration / clarification. It is designed for production of up to 4 Million gallons of high quality biodiesel per year.

Ascension Industries is renowned for excellence and innovation, offering proven design and engineering experience since 1956. The company’s Durco Industrial Filtration Division offers a wide range of industrial and municipal filtration systems, as well as OEM filter parts and service worldwide.
For more information, on the Durco Biodiesel Dry Washing Process visit: http://www.asmfab.com/Biodiesel-Dry-Washing.aspx

To arrange Testing of your biodiesel process stream, or a Durco Biodiesel Dry Washing Pilot Plant Trial, contact Mike DuVal at 716-693-9381 ext.129 or e-mail mduval@asmfab.com

For Durco Biodiesel Dry Washing & Filtration System sales enquiries contact Frank Pastore at 716-693-9381 ext. 126 or e-mail fpastore@asmfab.com