steved had PM'ed me if he remembered right that I recover in a horizontal drum still mounted on a trailer. I do and promised pictures, so thought I would share with all.

Its inactive and kinda covered in snow, but you get the idea. It would be more clear if it wasn't all insulated (especially the plumbing), but I'm not tearing it back off!







Its a 55 gallon drum on its side on an ATV trailer. I have one of Rilla Biofuel's 2-Pipe Ports though the larger, now-lower drum port, and the condenser comes out the smaller upper port. The pump draws from the short straw on the 2-Port (with a 90 fitting on the end so it draws down, like a drain), through an inline heater, and then replaces through the long straw. This sets up a fluid flow with the surface moving towards the condenser, which should transfer to the gases as well, and make them flow toward the condenser. I put the drum on its side to maximize this surface area for evaporation, and its just more stable and shorter overall with a 4' condenser sticking up out of it to be on it's side.

I should add that it doesn't pull every last ounce of methanol out of the glycerin (condenser head temp levels off at ~135-140F), but since I water pre-wash, those last ounces would be mostly water anyway. I usually get ~10 gallons methanol back from 35 gallons or so of raw glycerin. I think the last batch was about 88-90% pure, based on weight. Runs all day on a warm day to get it done (12hrs, probably).

How long does it take you to demeth?
What is your batch size?

I was asking at the same time you had answered..lol

That's just 'cuz you're so into this BD stuff you are RIGHT ON TOP of new posts!

Hi Ryan,

Nice.

I am going to try that out. Is the side with the pump tipped up when you do it ?

Thanks, Steve

quote:

Is the side with the pump tipped up when you do it ?

No or only slightly. I try to set the whole thing as level as possible with jack stands, just as it is on the big trailer in the pictures. Then I gravity fill it from a 55 gallon barrel on a stand where I dump and settle a little more BD from all my glycerin. I watch the little site glass with the vent and when the site glass is full, that's the level I stop at. Then I close the vent, dial up the water pump speed, fire up the recirculation pump, and finally fire up the heater if everything else looks good.

I do tip the pump end down to empty it, though.

Hi Ryan,

Putting in 35 gallons of glycerin is what works best ?

You use KOH ?

Thanks, Steve

quote:

You use KOH ?

Yes.

quote:

Putting in 35 gallons of glycerin is what works best ?

I haven't tried other volumes. Where I choose to put the site glass (and hence the volume) was based on sketches where I felt it "looked right" as far as balancing maximum expanded volume without entering the condenser vs. maximum internal surface area.

I guess I was somewhat conservative, but I really wanted to avoid glycerin making its way into the condenser, and since I don't know how raw glycerin expands with heat and just how turbulent the flow is inside, I only fill the drum 2/3 of the way.

Maybe I'm wrong, though. Fortunately, being on a trailer, its easy enough to play with the volume!

you know what, punching the numbers I recall into Graham's tank calculator again, I bet I am closer to 38-40 gallons by the time I actually stop, not 35 gallons. I THINK the top of my site plug is 14" up the drum, and I'm pretty confident its a 22" dia. drum.

Hi Ryan,

I am wondering if I should use a 15 gallon drum. It would take me months to get up 40 gallons of glycerin. Lately my batches have had even less glycerin ! I am getting better at it !

When you say warm outside how warm do you mean ?

Thanks, Steve

quote:

I am wondering if I should use a 15 gallon drum. It would take me months to get up 40 gallons of glycerin.

Yeah, probably. I had 150 gallons of raw glycerin built up and stored already and was doing 35 gallons weekly (7-8 more gallons glycerin), so a 55 gallon drum was the SMALLEST thing I considered doing.

By the time I got it working fully, I was able to run about half of the glycerin through it before it got too cold. So now I have just 100 or so gallons to run through and 120 or so gallons of liquid glycerin soap to find a good use for!

quote:

When you say warm outside how warm do you mean ?

Wisconsin warm. 60-65F in the morning when I would start it. 85-95F afternoon high. 75-80F by evening when I would shut it down for the night. By then the dripping typically had slowed so much I just called it a day and transfered the contents to a loose lid drum (55 or 15, when the 55's both got full) to rest until I find a use for it.

I've got R-20, I think it was (maybe R-14), fiberglass insulation over the whole thing with the plastic stapled down over it loosely to keep the insulation dry. And the circle of 2" blue Styrofoam insulation on the drum bottom that you can see. There is only a 2"x3" patch of the drum I left uninsulated by the 2-port so I could shoot the metal for internal temp with my infrared thermometer.

Hey Steve,

I have a 20 gallon tight head drum and several 10 gall as well. Let me know if you want one.

Tony

Hi Tony,

Thanks, I could use the 20 gallon drum.

Thanks, Steve