With considerable help from Fabman and Kennedyford, I have finally succeeded in producing a good 25 gallon batch of BD. It was not without problems however. I had trouble filtering out the Magnesol but finally succeeded. I have since ordered some 10 micron bag filters and hope that after filtering through it using gravity feed, I can filter through a 5 and 1 micron filter using a pump without "sheering" the magnesol. Any comments from you guys? Thanks very much FTE and the aforementioned helpers. Tom

 

pics? open style? would really like to see it. did you do a smaller processor first?

 

Forgot to ask if you are using KOH or NAOH and where you get yours.

 

Great news Tom! I told you you'd get it! Glad I could help, and feel free to call me anytime you need help.

 

do you guys have blueprints for the magnesol drying system that you are using? We are thinking of going this route rather than water washing. Also thinking of getting one of the cones off ebay to weld on the bottom of a barrell for the reactor. Anyone else do this?

 

I bought my cone from Bossbuck.com I posted a thread with the link in here titled Cone bottoms for our homebrew processesors or somthing similar. do a search.. but any how.. they work great and fit right on there... I would post a pic BUT its not all the way on it and I'm embarised to say I may have ruined one of the cones I bought.

I got the 304 SS one and was trying to weld it to the bottom of a 55gal mild steel drum. NO problem other then $$$ for some 309 welding rod... I have an ark welder. Well. let me tell you if you have an ark welder and are tring to make this thing DO NOT USE IT! Don't waste your money on the rod as the Cone steel IS TOO THIN even at under 40amps!

Instead find a buddy with a cheap-o Mig welder and buy a spool of 309. This is what has to be used to get these things to mate correctly. Otherwise you'll just burn holes and glop nothing on there really.

Alex

 

so what ratio of bio and desil is it? B5 20 100...?

 

[I had trouble filtering out the Magnesol but finally succeeded. I have since ordered some 10 micron bag filters and hope that after filtering through it using gravity feed, I can filter through a 5 and 1 micron filter using a pump without "sheering" the magnesol. Tom[/quote]

Does anyone have an answer to this question???

 

Yes, open style. No this is my first one and I used 55 gallon drums. I have 2 tanks on my truck so I topped off each one with 5 gallons. That's approx B30. As soon as I burn up that tank, I plan on running B100. Fabman showed me how to build it. Tom

 

was wondering what the magnesol filter looked like, a PVC pipe with a filter sock in it? what are the dimensions? thanks

 

I tried filtering the Magnesol with a 5 micron filter but it clogged. Fabman suggested letting it settle for 12 hours and sucking the BD off the top which I did. I then filtered thrua 5 and 1 micron filter. At no time did I run it through a pump for fear of shearing the magnesol. I'm hoping I can gravity feed it through a 10 micron filter (without waiting 12 hours for sepapation) and then pumping through a 5/1 filter. I'm awaiting an answer to that one. Stay tuned. I used 4"x 8" sock filters in a PVC pipe. Saw the plans here. See if you can search for them. Tom

 

Good Job !

 

Heres a site with the formula for making your cone bottom.
How to make a cone-bottomed processor: Making a cone

I also had the filter clog problem with magnesol. I did the same thing Fabman said to do, after mixing I allow it to settle over night, then pump the bio off the top through a 5 micron sock I then let it circulate through the 5 micron for a while, then through a 1 micron into another barrel. That way I make sure all the bio gets through the 1 micron. (using this proceedure I can filter several batches before the filters clog)
Then it goes through a regular 10 micron diesel filter(the ones used on a fuel tank) then through the absolute 1 micron can filter then into the truck.

 

I just got a processor and I have been trying to use Amberlite to wash it. But, it is too slow without a costly tower. I have been thinking about Magnesol and using a Dieselcraft OC 20 centrifuge to spin it out, then use an absolute 1 micron filter. Since I do not have any experience with Magnesol, do any of you think that would be sucessfull?

Thanks

 

No reason it wouldn't. The only question I have is with a capacity of only 10 oz for the OC-20 if your doing large batches and require pounds of Magnesol you would be stopping to clean the rotor a lot.............

My new plant will use something similar, a commercial SELF-CLEANING mechanical driven centrifuge. I found a used unit for $2,500. Not bad when a new unit is over $10,000!