Biodiesel

It was just a matter of time.....

2008-06-23T05:00:00.002-06:00

It happened, just like I knew it would... but it lasted a little longer than I had originally thought. The Gravy Train just couldn't last. What am I speaking of? I now have to pay for my WVO. It was just a matter of time. The good news is I secured a new contract to collect the oil for WingZone (Arvada store). The owner just purchased a new store and gave me the oil contract. I negotiated what I believe is a good monthly price for me (regardless of the amount of oil collected) and a fair deal for the owner.

Now with both Colorado WingZone stores, I will have plenty of oil to keep my biodiesel tanks full for some time (so long as I have a place to process it).

The operation has found a new home

2007-10-07T22:29:00.001-06:00

Well, just like a plethora of my other hobbies, this has come to an apex.

I have set it up to supply WVO and any assistance needed (which is a bunch at the moment) to a friend who is just beginning his adventure in Biodiesel. By doing this, I will be divesting my garage of all of its clutter and mess and focus my attention on a new venture (like always).

I have no intention of halting my learning and experimenting with Biodiesel, but by assisting Darek who has a large and operational work area, this makes sense. I see no reason to duplicate work when I am working very closely anyway with him to achieve his goals of high volume high quality Biodiesel.

More Bio-Soap...maybe

2007-05-14T17:55:00.000-06:00

This afternoon I attempted to make another batch of glycerin soap. This time I actually followed the recipe instead of just estimating all the amounts. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the mood to wait for the glycerin to cool down some (and my pot was quite full), so I ended up with a HUGE mess in the kitchen when the pot boiled over all over the place. Now, I'm not sure if the soap is going to come out the way it should since I lost so much (it might be short of lye); but I guess well see how it turns out in a week or so of curing.

This time I also added in some ground up oatmeal and a peppermint scent essential oil. If it does end up thickening up, it should have a better smell and ex foliate more easily. If it doesn't thicken, I'll either see how it works as a liquid soap or maybe I'll try to add more lye and see what happens..... everything is just an experiment so far anyway. What fun.

My Biodiesel Calendar... keep up to date

2007-05-13T20:15:00.000-06:00

Below I have imbeded my biodiesel calendar and will try to keep it up to date with what I have been up to.

WVO collection contract

2007-05-13T18:36:00.000-06:00

I just solidified a verbal contract to collect WVO from Wing Zone in Thornton.

2661 East 120th Ave
Thornton, CO 80241
720-872-WING (9464)

I will be collecting about 25-35 gal of WVO every week and picking it up in the original 35lb (~5gal) jugs.

I'd like to thank Jim, the owner, for giving me his used vegetable oil for my biodiesel project. Jim is a great guy and his generosity is making this project even more worth while. Please, go see Jim at his restaurant and have some of his fantastic chicken wings.

Re-Building for the new 'waterless' wash

2007-03-30T23:35:00.000-06:00

Well, I have sourced another water heater and have begun the process of turning it into a still. Hopefully, if all goes well, the still will be used to de-meth the biodiesel into its finished product without the use of a water wash. De-meth'ing the biodiesel will perform the same function as a water wash... removing the impurities (soaps, methanol, etc...). The basic reason this works is the soaps are disolved in the methanol; removing the methanol leaves nowhere for the soaps to reside, causing the soaps to essentially fall out. Running this through a filter is all that should be left to do.

If possible, I will use this same still to recover the extra methanol from the glycerin byproduct for re-use.
More on this later if it all works as designed.

The current plan is to have the still finished by the end of this weekend (4/01/07)...we'll see how it goes.

Another discovery

2007-03-02T13:55:00.000-07:00

Research is a wonderful thing. In researching the biodiesel making process (again), I have come across a new procedure where a 'water wash' is no longer needed.

Water washing is a process used to take out the excess methanol, soaps, and other impurities in the raw biodiesel. There are problems with using a water wash; they include the following:

possibility of causing an emulsion
the necessity of having to now dry the biodiesel
waste water disposal
time (dealing with adding/removing the water multiple times)
and there are probably others...

This new process (called the GL's 1 Day Process) eliminates the need to use water in the wash process. To make a very long discussion about this process shorter, it goes by the principal that soaps can not stay in suspension in biodiesel without excess methanol. Thus, removing the excess methanol (without using water to do so) will cause the soaps to quite literally fall out to the bottom of the 'wash tank'. There have been a few ways discussed on the 'best' way to do this, but basically, evaporation or distillation of the methanol seems to work the easiest.

I have chosen to distill the raw (un-washed) biodiesel in another water heater. The plan is to set up the water heater as a still to collect the methanol if at all possible for re-use (and at worst case keep it out of the air in my work area.

We'll see how this goes... back to the drawing board on the processor.

WVO Glycerin Pretreatment

2007-02-17T02:40:00.000-07:00

Another fantastic use for the glycerin byproduct sludge left over after making every batch of biodiesel!

Evidently, the glycerin layer byproduct (pre de-meth'd) can be used to pretreat the Waste Vegetable Oil prior to reacting. Put glycerin into WVO barrel, mix for a few minutes gently, let sit for 3+ days.

So basically, the glycerin from one batch of biodiesel (about 5 or so gallons in my case) can be added to a 55 gallon drum of WVO right from the settling tank (even if a 5% water pre-wash was performed) into my WVO holding tank. Big deal you may say...you could add 5 gallons of whatever you wanted to your oil, it is yours to do what you want with; but what does it do is the question....

By adding the glycerin to the WV0, you realize a few advantages.
The following things happen:

water is absorbed and sinks to the bottom of the barrel (de-watering the WVO) eleviating the necessity to preheat the oil

this may be due to the hydroscopic nature of the methanol left in the glycerin

tallow, excess animal fats, and such come together and sink to the bottom
a "winterizing" effect takes place, reducing the cloud point (where biodiesel starts to gell) of the final biodiesel product

Overall this process leaves a clearer feedstock that will produce a better quality biodiesel. Of course, this will also produce a layer of really nasty gunk on the bottom of your WVO barrel (which I have yet found a use for).

So the cycle begins again...

(this info has been obtained from http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/419605551/m/9441081511/p/1)

Glycerin Soap?!

2007-02-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

Today I tested out my glycerin soap. It looks like milked down coffee, smells like a mixture of biodiesel and something else fowl - but I tried it anyways.

It worked great! I had just come from the junk yard and had grease all over my hands and arms. It got it all off. I couldn't even tell I had just stuck my hands in a pool of motor oil just 20 minutes beforehand.

The best part... I don't smell like the soap. It washed off the smell with the grease.

I'll post up the recipe as soon as I have it pinned down a little better. Looks like I won't have to buy soap any more...

Testing 1...2...3... (Again)

2007-02-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

So, the first test went quite well. I did have a problem when the temperature dropped well below 0 degrees F. Well it was more than a problem, it was actually a total disaster (kinda). The biodiesel froze. It didn't gel, but completely froze. Fortunately for me, I was at work and got a ride home. I really wasn't worried; a few days later when it warmed up, I started it right up and drove home. And yes, I have another vehicle (the Dodge Ram) which I am not running bio in for just this reason (until I get the kinks worked out).

So, like I said, I consider this a success. I am getting at least 2 miles more to the gallon, a smoother and quieter ride, and a really funny smell (when standing outside of the car). This is all with running B25.

I am currently on my second tank (again B25) and all is going well again. I have been a tad smarter and haven't attempted to drive the Benz in negative weather when possible. I also keep her plugged in (I use a coolant heater).

The Real "Test"

2007-01-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

Today I put in 5 gallons of biodiesel into the Benz with about 14 gallons of #2 diesel. Before I added the bio, I replaced the fuel pre-filter.

I drove around town and didn't notice any loss of power or any other problems as of yet. The only noticeable difference is the smell of the exhaust. After letting the biodiesel mixture sit over night in the tank and driving again will probably be a better as the biodiesel will loosen up and clean out all the gunk in the fuel system.

I'll be keeping a close eye on things for the rest of the tank.

So far, I'd say it is a success.

The Voyage begins

2007-01-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

Ok... so it wasn't actually a voyage as much as a stroll.

Today I added about a gallon of biodiesel to what was left in my tank in my Benz; about 4 gallons of #2 diesel. I drove a few miles around town and everything seemed to go smoothly. I even think that the Benz ran a little smoother. I didn't notice any drop in power but the percentage of bio may not have been high enough to notice. Later in the evening I drove a few more miles into Denver (with Ken just in case). Once again the trip went well (which is an oddity for me). Ken also noticed less engine noise, but at full highway speed, neither of us were able to determine if there was any significant drop in power.

Tomorrow I'll definitely need to fill up again. I haven't yet made up my mind as to how much #2 diesel to put in in proportion to biodiesel. It is still very cold here, so I'll probably either stick with a B20 mixture or if I'm feeling adventurous maybe B50. I doubt it would be a good idea to go any higher than that until I get a better feel for my new fuel.

Things are getting exciting. More to come.

Breaking the Emulsion

2006-12-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

Well, I was waiting for it to get a tad warmer. It didn't really happen (at least not to any appreciable amount). Since the weather didn't cooperate, I ended up adding the glycerin back anyway and rigging up a spare water heater element which I dropped into the barrel of goo.

After just a little while, the emulsion began to break. I kept the heat on it for a while longer then just let it sit and settle out. I ended up siphoning off the "good" bio into another tank just to make sure I didn't accidentally get any of the crap at the bottom this time. I was able to siphon off somewhere about 35 liters or so... way less than the close to 80 liters that I should have gotten. So, I heated the rest of the garbage up for a few hours more and was able to settle out some more (still not as much as I'd have liked). After a few more rounds of this, I should have at least a respectable batch to finish washing.

It would definitely have been easier to just dump this brown mayonnaise instead of doing all this, but I am learning a lot more by doing this (so I guess it isn't a total waste). We will shortly find out.

The (Bio) Saga Continues

2006-11-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

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

2006-11-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

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

2006-11-12T03:25:00.000-07:00

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.