Magnesol is used to absorb the water after you have processed it. A hydrocyclone is a cylinder that spins the bio at anywhere from 6k to 9k rpm to seperate the glycering from the fuel. I have a picture of my small one on my profile. Its the blue barbell looking thing.

You dont have to have this stuff to make it, just patience to allow your bio to seperate. The mixing and heating tanks are metal. The holding tank and the metholoxide mixing tank is plastic. The tote used to hold the bio for storage and seperation, it is opaque enouph to see through and see the glycerin and bio seperate.

Now Fab pre-filters his gunk now and Ill explain. His newer seperation machine has a sideways looking washing machine tub with lots more holes in it. Inside that sits an auger screw that pushes the garbage to the rear in a trash bin. Therefore the liquid oil goes through the tumbler and the oil falls to the preheating container. Next he sends it to his mixing heating tank and Im not sure if he still sends it down the holed slide as a second filter thing or not.

I have his process in my head buy I dont have the sense enouph to say for sure what his final procedures are. I suspect that he will have it down in the other posting. He is working with about 2 different processes, all of which work for us because we are not industial like his farm.

 

Thanks for the patience guys, been at the hospital most of the week with Earl, while they "poke and prod" him. I've got the weekend off and will try and finish the plans. Part of the problem is I have to do them by hand, because my drafting program wont let me do any "free-hand" drawing..........and the 3D modeling program would take me 100 hours or more to do, and my drawing sucks..............So try and hold in the giggles when I post them

 

No rush man - you have your priorities in the right order and I commend you for it.

Anybody who wants to laugh at your drawings can just make their own - and come up with their own system while they're at it if they want to be critical

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so any typing you want to save yourself by posting more picts of your setup would be great too!

I for one really appreciate your willingness to share what you've developed. Gotta' love the 'net!

 

Great work, Fabman. Thanks for sharing. You say you look to see if you are getting the reaction you want. If not, you add half a pound more caustic. Can you describe what looks 'right' and what doesn't?

Having been in the chemical business for 25 years and around mixing all my life I like being able to see what I'm mixing. I also have open top mixing vats that aren't being used that would be great for an open style biodiesel production setup.

How tightly do the hinged lids fit on the mixing tank?

Thanks again.

Todd

 

The reaction is very noticeable. Before the methoxide is introduced the hot oil is a "honey" color, when the methoxide is introduced the color turns to a light "Carmel" color. When the reaction happens the whole batch turns to almost a black "coffee" color, the black color is the glycerol that has been separated, but is still in suspension.

My lids do not fit to tightly. I use a blower system to remove any fumes, so I want some area for the air to enter the mixer.

 

I can't find a hydrocyclone that'd work for a small rig.
In a few other posts and threads, you mention that it's not necessary.

So, lemmie see if I've got this procedure down.

1.) WVO straight from resturant - Heat it and seperate out krispies with holy drum and possibly bag filters (Any specific micron size?). Result: Clean, Hot WVO.

2.) Clean, Hot WVO goes into Mixing tank. - Spin up mechanical mixer, add Methoxide mix. Watch reaction. If no reacton, add more KOH in 8 oz increments. When mixture turns black, set timer for 30 mins.

3.) Come back in 30 mins. Pump coffee colored mix into seperation tank. Allow to settle 12 hours. Glycerol will float. Biodiesel will sink. (Or do I have that reversed? Is any heat required for this phase?)

Come back 12 hours later. At this point the process forks; Continuing with the Biodiesel:

4.) The Biodiesel is passed through a filter to remove soap (Any specific type of filter, IE. bag or cartridge? How many microns? Temperature requirements?).
5.) The Biodiesel is mixed with Magnesol to remove water.
6.) The biodiesel/magnesol mix is put through bag filters of 5 microns and then 1 micron. Biodiesel is ready for use. Magnesol is ready for heat drying and reuse.

Meanwhile when we forked back at step 3, the continuation of the Glycerol process:

4.) The Glycerol is pumped into a sealed tank, slightly warmed and vacuum is applied. (How much heat?)
5.) Methanol fumes are absorbed into the vacuum pump and condensed. Store for later use. (I have some plans for when I was thinking of building an ethanol still for my gasoline vehicles that may also work.)
6.) Glycerine is left. Can be used for manufacturing soap, fertilizer, animal feeds, or burnable pellets.


I want to make sure I have this procedure down packed and to the "T" before I build, buy, or do anything.

I assume the titration process for finding the correct recepie for the Methoxide mixture is the same as detailed in the many "Appleseed" process websites.

 

I believe that Fab runs his BD thru a methanol recovery process before filtering to remove soap

 

Don't get me wrong here, but if you can get a good supply for the ingredients you can afford a few mistakes (as long as they don't go kaboom)
The rest will come as you try to make the BD. I haven't even been able to get a supply of WVO yet. Around here EVERYONE has a contract with the evil empire.
As soon as my supply begins, I will make something that burns. If it is not suitable for my truck, I will heat my garage....

 

#1. Yes, All you need is a screen with approx 1/16" holes.

#2. Perfect!

#3. No heat required, Biodiesel is lighter, Glycerol settles to the bottom.

#4. Biodiesel goes into a tank at 100 deg F, 15" min vacuum pulled, excess Methanol is recovered through a condenser. At this point any soap will come out of suspension, and can be filtered out with a 5 micron bag filter.

#5. Magnesol is mixed in with bio and GENTLY stirred [not pumped] for 30 min, then pumped through a 5, then a 1 micron filter. The Magnesol removes any FF A's, Lye, soap, Methanol, AND water. We through the Magnesol onto the pigpen, or you can compost it.

Glycerol stream:

#4. Yes, 100 deg F.

#5. Yes.

#6. Yes.


I think you've got it Pele! Good luck, and keep us informed on your progress!

 

So my idea of heat drying it and reusing it will not work?

How much magnesol will I need per gallon of WVO or Biodiesel?

 

[QUOTE=Pele]I can't find a hydrocyclone that'd work for a small rig.
In a few other posts and threads, you mention that it's not necessary.

You can call the 800 number on the bottom link in my signature. You want to talk to Chris directly. He is my uncle and ask him about purchasing a small hydrocyclone like Troy has. I have no clue what the cost would be. Or as Fab has stated its getting to the point that you may not need one since you havent built your system yet. Fab will get you a system. "If he draws it, they will come." If he builds it, ive went to his house and seen it.

 

The advantage to magnesol is that it removes almost all contaminants, including water, FFAs, residual Na ions, residual MeOH, and etc, leaving very clean BD. The alternatives are long term settling or water washing both of which have problems associated with them.

Long term settling delays your ability to use the BD for 30 days or so and the longer BD sits the more likely you are to have oxidation occur. Oxidation products can attack delicate metal parts like injector nozzles.

Water washing increases the likelyhood of forming emulsions, soap complexes that can ruin a batch of BD. It also requires you to dry the BD the most common method is heat and heat also increases the chance of oxidation.

Magnesol cleaning eliminates those problems and really produces a higher quality product. It does increase the cost a little, about $.10 per gal but that can be reduced by recovering residual MeOH.

 

But how much magnesol will I need?

I plan on doing sub 50ish gallon batches...

My preheat tank is a 55 gallon drum turned upside down with the bottom (on top) cut out of it. I'll stack it up on cinder blocks around the rim and set a fire underneath it... (I have a burner from an oil furnace that I can use for this. Otherwise, wood and other trash will work.

Pipes out the bungs for drainage through brass ball valves.

Once it's past boiling it should get rid of any major amounts of water in it. Then I'll kill the fire and pump it into the mix tank, which will be another 55 gallon drum with a motor and fan blades similar to fabman's.

I'm still working on a vacuum chamber of the same relative size for the methanol recovery. Another 55 gallon drum should do...

 

OK sorry but I am getting confused with all these different posts. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Fabman stated the BD and Glycerol must be separated BEFORE recapturing the methanol. I don't know whether he stated they needed to be heated again in their separate tanks before pulling a vacuum and if so what is that temp. He did state to pull the methanol through the vacuum pump BEFORE the condensor and into the recovery tank. I am a little concerned with methanol explosion in the vacuum pump but if Fabman says that's the way, I will go with that. What are you going to use for a recovery tank? Are you using any PVC for plumbing or is it all steel? Thanks in advance for your input. Tom

 

Try here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/5...ml#post4508509

A 55 gallon tank will collapse under vacuum.