So what ingredients did I miss? First I used 135 liters of unfiltered, not dewatered, junk oil, used a faulty pH meter, bubble washed with 3 big airstones to make 45 gallons of coffee milkshake. Then I read the article about using glycerin to break an emulsion. Since he used 30% glycerin to break it, I added 12 gallons of glycerin. I stirred it, heated it to 145 degrees and added 1 Kg of salt in solution to my biomess. Anybody have a suggestion? Vinegar? Paprika? I guess I haven't conquered this bio thing.

Mike,

Welcome to the board.

Go have a beer and check it in the morning.

Patience is a virtue, even when making biodiesel.

Rick

Better to get all your mistakes out at the beginning!

Look on the bright side though...bears have not broken in and knocked over your barrel, spilling the contents over your expensive block-paved driveway and taking out your meth barrel too!

Your glass is half full my friend - its just hard to see it that way sometimes.

quote:

Originally posted by Pretzel Mike:
So what ingredients did I miss? First I used 135 liters of unfiltered, not dewatered, junk oil, used a faulty pH meter, bubble washed with 3 big airstones to make 45 gallons of coffee milkshake. Then I read the article about using glycerin to break an emulsion. Since he used 30% glycerin to break it, I added 12 gallons of glycerin. I stirred it, heated it to 145 degrees and added 1 Kg of salt in solution to my biomess. Anybody have a suggestion? Vinegar? Paprika? I guess I haven't conquered this bio thing.

Mike,
Apart from your post looking like a 'set-up', since you make sure that you included almost every possible poor practice, I will draw to the bait and reply.
You made several mistakes.
[list]

You made a large batch without having tested your calculations and measurements on a small sample of oil.

You knew it was wet - Why didn't you dry it?

You say you used a faulty pH meter - why would you do this unless to ensure sympathy when the batch failed? Was the pH meter used in a titration?

You didn't tell us whether you had separation or not. You also did not reveal if you removed the byproduct before the wash.

You used vigorous bubblewashing. This has been advised against at all posts on bubblewashing, posts on emulsions and many other posts. Why would you?

To determine what to do, to remedy the problems, it would be usual to try potential remedies in a small batch first (1 litre), not just dump in bulk chemicals in a hope of a miracle.

Your post is an excellent example of "what not to do".

My advice is for you to stop making up biodiesel stories and go back to writing fiction.

If you do really wish to make biodiesel, you should learn to read what has been written here many times before.
It is al there for you to read.

"Fatmobile 3" '84 MB300D Silver/Grey with dark blue interior. 290kkm My car - 2 tank UCO conversion working well. 22 000 km so far on UCO
"Josephine" '82 MB300D White with Palamino MBtex interior. 385kkm Wife's car. 20 000km on UCO blends.
"Elizabeth" '81 MB 280E Good body now re-engined as a 300D with the engine from the '79 300D.70 litre UCO tank, 2 pollacks switch FP, filters and IP between Start and UCO tanks.

'79 300D poor body (donor & parts)

"Fatmobile 2" '80 MB300D White with dark Blue interior 230kkm (My first MB) - 5000 km on biodiesel / UCO blend - Found new owner (Sold in 2004).
"Fatmobile" a '90 Mazda 2 litre diesel on UCO with biodiesel start/purge. - SOLD in Dec 2003 after 40 000km on UCO.

Tony,

Although it may sound made up, it's true. I've made lots of bio. I haven't taken my Dodge diesel to a "gas" station since February. I just got some junk oil and found the pH meter wasn't working after I used it. The next step was the really foolish one, I put in 1 airstone and then realized that I wasn't using the other 2 that were hooked up to the pump. So what the heck, I just dropped them in. 24 hours after the salt addition there is a very small amount of oil collecting on top. I guess I'll just wait it out. But I really would like to break the emulsion. I hate to lose any bio. I apologize if you were offended but emulsion seems to be my biggest problem. I was looking for all alternatives that might be offered.

Pretzel,
Take the points I made and work thru thepost. There is still good advice in there to help you deal with your emulsion.
I have distilled out the most important points:
1. Tell us the details of your failed process. Oil type, Caystic type and amount, % Methanol, Temperature of reaction, Whether you had separation, whether you drained off the byproduct, etc. We are not Telepathic.
2. Test potential remedies in 1 litre batches.
3. Search the forum for 'emulsion' or 'breaking emulsion'.
4. LEARN from this experience!

Tony