How long do you think it would take to reclaim most or all the methanol out of 40 gallons of glycerine with a properly sized, single HWH heating element running on 110. While being pumped and recirculated?
Right now my setup is running 48 hours to recover roughly 10 gallons of methanol. Is that too long for this amount?

That's about on par with what I see. I get 10-13gal out of a 55 gal barrel laid on its side for a still: so it holds about 40-45gal. One element, and a recirculation pump. It takes allllll weekend to finish one batch, from cold glycerin Friday night to no more methanol flow Sunday night, and being shut off while I sleep because I don't trust it to run unsupervised.

More heat (a bigger element) would make it go faster, but then also raise the risk of burning the glycerin onto the element and burning it out. I use a low watt density, SS, 6500W, 220V element, so its doing 1625W at 110V.

Thanks Ryan. I was starting to wonder. So far out of a 55 gallon drum used, I have recovered and reused 22 gallons of ME. Is there a limit to how many times you can resuse the ME after recovery? I figure I have some recovered ME in the drum now that has been reused twice. probably 6 or 8 gallons worth. The rest is brand new, 3 gallons or so

No, there is no limit but you dont have to worry about it, because you loose some every time that is basically unrecoverable, so because of these losses your 55 gallon drum will eventually be gone.

Thanks Fab!

De nada.

You are pouring the recovered M back into the virgin M?

quote:

Originally posted by fabricator:
you loose some every time that is basically unrecoverable

While you do "loose" a little,
The goal is to chemically bind the methanol to the fatty acids (transesterification). Thus, the majority of the methanol is consumed.

The methanol itself will not degrade as long as you keep it anhydrous (without water), and it doesn't pick up any contaminants

As Raften mentioned, in the future, you may wish to keep the "new" methanol in a separate drum from. So, you would just continue using the recovered methanol, and adding a little as needed.

The "new" methanol might have a slightly more consistent quality, you would always have it for testing purposes, or if you manage to contaminate the recycled.

hooknline,

I use my GL processor as my still. With 50 gallons of glycerin I recover 11.5 gallons in about 12 hours, the venturi makes all the difference. It allows the methanol to rapidly evaporate at a lower temp.

Tony

I did put my recovered ME back in the new drum, as it only had 3 gallons in it or so of new stuff. Normally I dont.
tgomes..thats fast! Is that with 220 to the heater?

220V 5500w element, pump running, venturi open.
By then the pot is about 240f with the head contolled at 154f. Purity seems to run between 95% and 98% depending on weather it is the first or last out of the pot. No reflux column but the pipe to the condensor head is un insulated so there might be some small amount of reflux happening there.

Tony

Tgomes, which version of the GL processor are you using?

I use the original GL not the push-pull. It works so well I have no reason to change.

http://www.biodieselpictures.com/viewtopic.php?t=444

Tony

That's good news. How do you wash your bio? Do you use NaOH? Nice setup, by the way. What capacity is the tank? Is it a compressor tank?

Hi Paulus,

No washing, after distillation of the BD I bubble the hot (200f) BD till it gets to room temp. I then settle for a day or so and filter to 10 micron. Yes I use NaOH as the soaps settle much better after bubbling. It is a 60 gallon tank and yes it used to be an air compressor (lots of bungs and handy sizes)

Tony