Hi all, this place seems to be the best place to learn about bio-diesel. So here goes...

Basically im going to start making bio-diesel so need to know everything.
So far am I right with the following basic procedure?

1) Filter used oil
2) Mix methonal with catalyst
3) Mix oil with methonal mixture
4) Leave to settle and seperate bio-diesel from glycerin
5) Wash boi-diesel
6) Settle and filter/polish
7) Finish

So firstly have I missed anything?

and now for the rest of the things im confused about.

1) How to determine amount of methonal & catalyst
2) Which catalyst to use
3) What can I do with the left over glycerin
4) Im going to use dry wash not wet wash so how does all that work with eco2pure?
5) Where do all these tests come in place..soap test, titration test, partical counter
6) Whats resin? I think its something in the dry wash process.
7) What is the purpose of bubbling and when does that come into place?

Sorry about so many questions, please can someone answer them for me. Thank You very much.
I would appreciate you answering them with the number so makes it easier for me to understand.

Thanks once again.

Basically im going to start making bio-diesel so need to know everything.
So far am I right with the following basic procedure?

1) Filter used oil
Really no need to filter the WVO, just run it through a window screen to get out the large chunks. The smaller particles settle with the glycerin.
2) Mix methonal with catalyst
Put the caustic in the methanol.
3) Mix oil with methonal mixture
Heat the oil to 55 degrees C. (or there abouts) Mixing to be violent. Mechanically mix or pump mix.
4) Leave to settle and seperate bio-diesel from glycerin
Yes, drain it off the bottom.
5) Wash bio-diesel
Yes, water wash or dry wash. Many people recover methanol before washing. Some even run unwashed. Okay for older vehicles, but not modern common rail systems.
6) Settle and filter/polish
You have to dry it if you water wash. Filter as you put it in vehicle.
7) Finish

So firstly have I missed anything?
There are more techniques, such as 5% pre wash, base-base processing, acid-base processing, etc. You will learn about these as you go along.

and now for the rest of the things im confused about.

1) How to determine amount of methonal & catalyst
normal methanol is 20& of your oil volume. Many use more, some use less, depending on your procedure. Amount of catalyst is determined by titration. This is probably THE most important step in making bd.
2) Which catalyst to use
NaOH or KOH is a matter of personal preference and other factors you'll learn about as you go.
3) What can I do with the left over glycerin
Big problem for most brewers. You can only make so much soap. Options are digesting(breaking it down in a compost pile), recycling, burning, flushing. There's a discussion on that in the forum right now.
4) Im going to use dry wash not wet wash so how does all that work with eco2pure?
eco2pure is a dry wash resin, works very well. Expensive. People are experimenting with columns of sawdust to dry wash bd.
5) Where do all these tests come in place..soap test, titration test, partical counter
Titration-see above (determines amount of caustic you use), soap test is after bd is made. reaction does produce some soap, you want to get it out of fuel. Not many do turbidity tests (particle counter)
6) Whats resin? I think its something in the dry wash process.
Resin is what you're using for dry wash (see #4)
7) What is the purpose of bubbling and when does that come into place?
Bubbling is used both for washing and drying wet bd. Bubble washing has pretty much fallen out of vogue (can cause emulsions)
Sorry about so many questions, please can someone answer them for me. Thank You very much.
I would appreciate you answering them with the number so makes it easier for me to understand.

Thanks once again. [/QUOTE]
This is just a very simple, short synopsis, much more is involved. You've got a lot of reading to do! This forum is the best place to come to do it.

bio diesel man welcome to the forums. A couple of thoughts.

1. Your oil quality may help determine which catalyst to use. NaOH works for titration range 0-5 or 6. KOH works at higher ranges but i am not sure at what point you would need to change to acid.

2. always test 3/27 prior to turning off your reactor. This will help determine if the reaction is complete. if you get any fallout, you can immediately reprocess.

3. I agree with Joe on every thing except bubble washing. A lot of us still do it. Personally I cannot afford resin and my testing leads me to believe that wood chips do not remove all of the soap while invalidating the soap test.


hope that helps
Mike

Sounds like you got a lot of great advice.. and we all have some input that may help you.
sometimes just hearing how someone else does it can help you decide. For me I followed how a friend did it and then as I got into it I made my own changes so here's my process.

First off I use virgin oil so I dont titrate but thats the most important thing.
Get a titration kit and its very easy to do.
Now use a titration calculatorto get your amounts.
I started with a single stage process but now I use base/base which I love
My batches are 40 gallons in cone bottom tank processor

I heat oil to 130F
while heating I mix the methoxide and I use KOH
At 130F I use a venturi to slowly mix in the methoxide.. (I mix in only 80% of it)
Mix 2 hours or til pass 3/27(3-4 hours) for single stage.
Base/base settle 30 min and drain glycerin
Then process again drawing in last 20% and process til 3/27 pass usually 1 hour

Settle overnight and drain glycerin.. heat back up to 140F to wash
Transfer to a water wash tank and mist wash until clean( I use a continuous wash and do not have to watch it constantly)At this point I do the shake soap test to see if I am soap free..
Transfer to a dry tank and dry
transfer to a settle tank and slowly start pumping through drywash resin(Thermax) at 4 GPH
Drizzles into 2 1 micron filters filled with quick n dri.. do one more 3/27 and shake test and sometimes the water test as I have done it so many times I am confident I am dry..
Pump into truck through 2 10 micron filters..

Now this is just my process but my ASTM results were incredible..

I'm with Mike that I think bubble washing and drying is still very widely used but Joe is correct that emulsions can occur easily. I do not bubble..

I do have some experience with dry washing and as you can see I still water wash now.
The wood chips are great at getting alot of soap but will not get all the soap and can change some test results. You also have to get a lot of the soap and most of the meth out before you can run it through the drywash. Demething can run some more risks than I was prepared for. I did the prewash to cut soaps and even wood chips but then I had to reheat to demeth. What I did not know was demething causes soaps to fall out much slower and caused $1000 in damage to my truck. It also clogged my towers after just 2 batches, so now that is why I water wash then still use the resins to polish.. they last a long time that way.

I hope this isnt overload and in some way it helps!
Lisa

This message has been edited. Last edited by: biogirlz,

When washing, start with hot bio. that lets you get away with a more vigorous wash without emulsion. I start with a 1 hour mist( continuous drain) settle for an hour then wash for a couple more hours. Lisa is correct about the wood chips. I played with some and found soap titrations are acidic yet shake test were milky as could be. Lisa and I both drive an 6.0 powerstrokes. That engine is very picky. Fuel must be top notch. From the sound of your first post, it seems that you want to produce very high quality fuel also. What will you be putting your bio in?

Mike

Agreed. After a couple of mist washes, bubble washing does a fantastic job at really polishing off your biodiesel. I soap titrated my last batch to be 52ppm soap and thats using KOH as a cat. Im happy with that.

After settling and draining your water off.. throw the bubbler back thru the biodiesel to dry it. I can get my biodiesel under the 500ppm water mark in about 5 hours doing this. Click my attachment below for a drying curve I made. Of course in reality I leave the bubbler on overnight to really polish it off.

drying_curve.JPG (20 KB, 14 downloads)

I would keep your glycerin to pretreat your next batch of wvo-ultimately burn it as saw dust logs if you have a woodburner(do not burn on an open fire)

Greetings.
I have been thinking about making biodiesel for a while now but it has finally come to a "have to do" situation because I am now driving more than 200 miles each day going back and forth to work.
I have studied the Journey to forever site closely. They have good pictures and descriptions of how things work which I find particularly helpful.
Are there any other sites that have good pictures of the equipment and descriptions of how to build it. I would like to get more than one slant on how to do things.
This thread is helpful but I am really more interested in seeing pictures and diagrams the equipment.

Me personally I would stay away from JTF.. Lots of wrong info I learned on that site..
There are plenty of pictures in the equipment section and you can see all kids of pics from this forum at www.biodieselpictures.com

there is also this one
and this one

good luck

Thank you for the links biogirlz, some of the pictures were useful.
I understand that some of the information on the jtf site is wrong but then that can be said about most biodiesel sites.