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Biodiesel Flow Meter DN80 Wash Water Stripping Pipeline Layouts
Quick Answer: For biodiesel wash water stripping lines carrying DN80 pipes, a Coriolis mass flow meter gives the most reliable results. Silver Instruments recommends a straight-tube Coriolis with Hastelloy C wetted parts to handle caustic wash water and trace methanol. Keep the meter upstream of the stripping column inlet and use zero dead leg installations to stop deposit buildup.
Why Wash Water Stripping in Biodiesel is Tough on Flow Meters
Wash water from biodiesel purification contains sodium hydroxide, soaps, methanol, and traces of glycerin. The fluid is often between 40 °C and 65 °C, with conductivity that varies wildly from 500 µS/cm to 15,000 µS/cm. This tells you that magnetic flow meters struggle with signal noise when layers of non-conductive soap coat the electrodes. We have seen this on a plant in Indonesia, where a customer replaced a magmeter after only four months because the readings drifted by 12 %.
DN80 is a common pipe size in medium-scale biodiesel plants across Malaysia, Thailand, and Colombia. Most stripping pipelines run at 2 to 4 bar, with flow rates between 6,000 kg/h and 14,000 kg/h of wash water. The stripping column outlet often sits directly above the pipe run. That short drop creates mixed-phase flow if the column dumps slugs of water. Not every flow meter handles this well.
Why a DN80 Coriolis Meter Works Here
Coriolis mass flow meters measure directly in kg/h. You do not care about conductivity, dielectric constant, or flow profile. In wash water, Coriolis meters ignore the changing soap content. A straight-tube Coriolis with Hastelloy C wetted parts handles pH values from 2 to 13 with ease. Silver Instruments supplies a DN80 Coriolis with a 316L secondary containment but Hastelloy flow tubes as standard for biodiesel wash water.
Here is the thing. Positive displacement meters like oval gear units are sometimes proposed for biodiesel wash water, but soaps and sticky glycerin deposits wear the gears fast. A gear meter installed in a Vietnamese plant required cleaning every three weeks. After switching to a DN80 Coriolis, the plant runs two years without intervention.
Pipeline Layout Details for DN80 Stripping Lines
The ideal layout places the flow meter on a horizontal section at least 10 pipe diameters downstream of the stripping column nozzle. Avoid installing the meter directly below the column outlet if there is a risk of falling slugs. In one site in the Philippines, shifting the meter 2 meters further downstream eliminated random 30 % spikes in the mass flow reading caused by entrained gas. If you must install in a vertical run, flow must go upwards. Downward flow risks draining the tubes and pulling gas into the sensor.
Keep the meter body fully wetted at all times. Use a downstream back pressure valve set to 0.5 bar above vapor pressure at the process temperature. This stops methanol from flashing if the line gets hot. Most engineers skip this part because they assume the stripping column keeps enough head. In practice, a hot day can push methanol partial pressure up enough to create bubbles. Silver Instruments suggests a simple spring-loaded check valve and a pressure gauge just before the meter inlet.
Mounting Tips from Customer Sites
We have seen many DN80 wash water meters installed directly on pipe supports without flexible connections. That transmits pump vibration straight into the sensor. A biodiesel plant in Argentina isolated the meter with short spool pieces and flexible rubber dampers. Mass
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In a layout for a Colombian site, we placed the DN80 Coriolis 1 meter before a manual sample port. That allowed the operator to compare meter readings against a bucket-and-stopwatch check once a week. Simple field validation builds trust. The same layout also used a small nitrogen purge connection upstream, activated once a shift to push residual soap film. This kept the flow tubes clean without dismantling.
Meter Selection and Signal Output
Silver Instruments supplies the DN80 Coriolis with integrated M20 conduit entries and 4-20 mA HART output as standard. The mass flow, density, and temperature signals go straight into the plant’s PLC or paperless recorder. For biodiesel wash water, we set the density cutoff at 980 kg/m³ to reject gas bubbles automatically. If the density drops below that threshold, the meter holds the last valid mass flow for two seconds. This prevents false totals.
We recommend a DN80 meter body with process connections PN40 flanges EN 1092-1 Type 11. Wetted parts are Hastelloy C-22, which resists caustic and methanol attack better than 316L. The meter housing is IP67 rated. In ATEX Zone 1 areas, we supply Ex ia IIC T4 certification. The power supply is 24 V DC, and the current draw is less than 350 mA. That makes it easy to power from a standard PLC analog input card.
FAQ About DN80 Biodiesel Wash Water Flow Measurement
Can I use an electromagnetic flow meter for biodiesel wash water?
Sometimes, but only if the wash water has stable conductivity above 20 µS/cm and the soap layer is managed. Many biodiesel plants report electrode coating after two to four weeks, causing measurement errors. Coriolis avoids this problem completely.
What flow range should I expect in a DN80 wash water line?
Typical ranges are 6,000 kg/h to 18,000 kg/h at 2 to 4 bar. The Silver Instruments DN80 Coriolis measures accurately from 400 kg/h up to 24,000 kg/h with 0.1 % liquid mass accuracy. That covers flushing cycles and normal stripping rates.
Do I need straight run pipe upstream?
No, Coriolis meters need no straight run. But you still want 10 D upstream from the stripping column outlet to let mixed-phase flow settle. That is not a meter requirement, it is good piping practice.
How do I handle cleaning of the meter in place?
We recommend a double block and bleed valve arrangement with a wash connection on one side. You can flush the meter with hot water at 60 °C once a month without removing it from the line. Silver Instruments includes a cleaning guide with every biodiesel wash water package.
What is the price for a DN80 Coriolis flow meter for this application?
Pricing depends on the wetted material, certifications, and explosion-proof requirements. Send us your flow range (kg/h), process temperature (°C), pipe pressure (bar), and whether you need ATEX or IECEx certification. Our export team in Silver Instruments will reply with a quotation and a suggested pipeline layout sketch.
Send your process data: pipe size (DN), flow rate (kg/h), fluid composition, pressure (bar), and temperature (°C). Email our team at [email protected] or visit flow-meter.com.au to see the full DN80 Coriolis datasheet. We ship from China to Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and South America in under two weeks.
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