I am not recovering methanol right now, but I am boiling it off and letting the positive pressure bubble through water to condense the methanol so I do let off so much air polution. How long do I need to let the pump circulate at 160F to drive off the vast majority of methanol?

I assume when I see the vigorous bubbling stop the majority is gone???

NCDiesel

PS: I know I need to start recovering - too many projects too little time, though so for now this will have to do.

a very long time...at that temp the methanol will stay in the glycerin...I don't usually get methanol coming out until the 'pot' temp is around 180F.

if you're using the harbor freight pump of the NT pump don't do over 200F you destroy the shaft seals.


-dkenny

not sure if my experience applies here but I'm using an Appleseed processor (with mightyvac and copper coil condenser)better production with relief valve open instead of under vacuum and I'm getting recovery with temperature fluctuating between 160 and 170 with thermostat set at 170 I stop when production slows down to about 5 drops per minute after 24 hours have tried running another 24 hours only to get an additional 200 ml out of 30 gallon batch