quote:

Originally posted by bj100:
Thanks to Graham's generosity in providing his knowledge freely, I have built a processor along the lines of 1-day ecoprocessor.

It's performing very nicely, but I was wondering if it's possible to vary the process slightly. I'm willing to do some experimentation if this hasn't been done, but decided to ask first in the off chance that it's been tried or someone has an answer.

What I am considering is whether it's possible to process the oil with methoxide, do the 5% prewash, and then distill the methanol and dry the biodiesel before allowing the glycerine to settle? By my way of thinking, if I've processed for long enough the reaction should be complete before this point, and therefore it won't matter when I remove the methanol and water.

The attraction is complete distillation in one process, less energy use and slightly faster processing.

There's far greater minds than mine at work on the subject of biodiesel production, so it's highly probable that there's a fundamental misunderstanding in my thinking that prevents my idea being feasbile - if so apologies for the simple question.

Any info appreciated.

Cheers,
Ben