The (Bio) Saga Continues

So, I started that first batch of biodiesel on Nov. 19th, before I left for the Thanksgiving holiday the next day. Well, word to the wise, don't rush; it just isn't worth it.

Besides getting the WVO into the reactor for processing, the reaction went very smoothly. I'll have to devise some other solution to "load" the reactor.... this will be a manual process until then.

The settling even went well. After less than an hour, the glycerin dropped out as it should. I let it settle for a while longer, but probably could have stood to wait more time (if I weren't rushing). I was even impressed with the transfer from the settling tank to the wash tank (this actually worked better than I had anticipated -- after seeing how lousy the pump work to suck up the initial WVO for processing). The pump did leave a small portion of bio in the lines, but this should not be a problem to further batches.

The problem arose when I attempted to wash the biodiesel. I should have tested a small batch prior to adding the water (among other things... but come on.... I was excited). So, the inevitable happened. I got an emulsion.
My garage (where I am doing all of this) is quite cold these days being in Colorado in the winter.

Well, I figured that if we got a few warm days while I was away, the emulsion may break.... I was trying to be optimistic; so shoot me.
Since the emulsion didn't break, I have since taken a small test batch of the glop and added back some glycerin. Wow did that work out well. That in a bath of warm water for just a few seconds worked wonders immediately. The emulsion broke and it looked like biodiesel again (just dark since it had the glycerin in it). After letting this sit, I could begin to see the glycerin settle out to the bottom.

When I get some time later this week, I will add back a good portion of the glycerin, mix it up and add a little heat if I can. If this works as I assume, I'll let this sit for a while and drain off the glycerin and water. Then I can do some testing and see if I can figure out why the batch emulsified in the first place.

To be continued....

It begins

I finished the all the "lose ends" on the processor this afternoon. Also, I was able to finish filtering the WVO (Waste Vegetable Oil) to 200 microns (which should do fine for the reaction). This morning (12:30am - 2:45am) I had the time to do a new titration and start a batch.

We mixed up the methoxide (lye and methanol) and while waiting for it to dissolve, we attempted to fill the reactor with WVO. Not surprising, the pump was unable to suck up the oil without major intervention. I'll need to figure out another way to load the reactor...
For now though, we have about 21 gal of WVO ready to be heated and reacted later this afternoon. By then the lye should be dissolved completely. I should have time to get the reaction finished and into the settling tank (if the pump works to transfer it to the settling tank).

Project Biodiesel

I am just about finished with my biodiesel setup. Test batches have been made and tested for quality. The processor is just about done, the lye (NaOH) is hear, and the methanol was just delivered. I have a restaurant just waiting for me to provide them with an open-top barrel for WVO collection (I currently have about 40 gal now to start with).

The only thing left now is to make a big batch.

My large batches will be 80 liters (about 21 gal). Not sure what the yield will be with the oil I'll be collecting.

This entire project has cost about $700 before lye and methanol (witch totaled almost another $300).

Once my process is refined and I make a couple of batches, I estimate that it'll cost about a buck ($1.00) a gal.