5.3.1.3No second “washing” step
In this part, the effective bio-oil fractionation process with water was further refined. The second
“washing” step was removed, as shown in Figure 73, and the effects of that removal were studied.
Figure 73 Bio-oil fractionation process with water without the second "washing" step
The results from this shortened process are shown in Table 34 in the columns denoted as experiment
#18. The results show that this shortened process was almost as effective. The only significant difference
was the acidity of the result WIF. The acidity of this process’s WIF was higher than that from the process
with the second “washing” step (experiment#11). Nonetheless, the acidity was still much lower than that of
the starting bio-oil. Given that this shortened process saved at least 4 hours, it is very well worth
considering.