I've had my 2 reflux stills running, and have built a "molecular still". I've been brewing ethanol for a month now and have it to about 99.5% purity. Made a couple of small batches of bio, and had good luck with it. My question to you is: If glycerol is a "sugary alcohol", how can I get it to ferment ( with yeast?) in order to turn it into an alcohol that I can run through my still? See where I'm going with this..............

 

Fermentation of glycerol is not as easy as it might sound.

The problem, until recently, has been that the readily available organisms that ferment the starch in corn and other fruits and vegitables just don't work on glycerol, it has to do with the configuration of the molecule.
Now there is a ray of hope, a research group at Rice University has found a species of E. Coli that can digest and ferment glycerol to ethanol.

Here is are links to a couple of articles on article on the topic.

Discovering New Uses for Glycerin - Biodiesel Magazine

Bioenergy news

 

Nuff said................I don't think I want to mess around with E.Coli

I'll continue on with the work I was doing before...............

 

What are you fermenting now? My biodiesel buddy is hell bent on using Kudzu. It allegedly has similar starch content has potatoes pound for pound. He had a moonshine still for years and according to others, was good at it.

On the same note, I would like to recover methanol from our glycerol. Using the recipe in the BioPro 190, we are likely often using more methanol than we need. I think this is as easy as distilling it... Have you done this yet?

 

I'm using grains ( wheat and barley). I have acess to tons of it from our seed cleaning plant. I've been recovering about 45% of my Methanol for years now. Really helps keep the cost down, and cuts the cost of my Magnesol in half! And yes, it's as easy as distilling it.........

 

Try fermenting the presscake from your canola

 

We sell the cake for $200/ton..........

 

UUUMMMM well then dont try to ferment it. LOL

 

I won't! When we clean our wheat seed we take out small underdeveloped seeds, and "goatgrass" and other weed seeds. Most of it goes into cattle, and hog feed (close to 10 tons/year!) so I have a ready supply of grain to use for Ethanol.

As a side issue, I "gave" 1,000 gallons of Glycerol to the county road dept last week for a test to see if they want to use it for dust control. If they like it they are willing to buy all I can produce. What they don't know is I have an agreement from 2 biodiesel plants to purchase their glycerol for $.10/gal, and the county said they will buy it from me for $.75/gal..........What a deal!

 

Fabman,
With all the things you keep coming up.

How the heck do you find time to farm?????

 

I don't farm anymore.............I still live "on farm", but started a farm service business. That and my engineering work keeps me more than busy!

 

A question? A recent batch of Bio seems to be contaminated with somthing else. It is clowdy at 70 degrees F and when mixed with Dino 10% won't flow through the injectors. The stuff was clear amber when distilled and turned clowdy when mixed with Dino fuel. Any ideas as to the cause of this mess. The mixed fuel smells like good paint thinner. What to do with it now? Subsiquent bio runs have had no problems and the same source was used. HELP
PWRPROD

 

Hard to say without testing but it could well be algae.

 

Ok, I need a place to have testing done, I know of nothing in Santa Barbara other than UCSB. Why would we get alge? Looking for cause and effect so we can correct. The still does heat the oil, but it also cools it when the water wash happens.
Thanks
Jack G.

 

There is an algae species for virtually every situation.

It is impossible to say why your batch got contaminated, especially since it appears to be an isolated incident.

I would try adding an algaecide, you can get it from many diesel shops or farm/ranch supply stores. Follow the directions on the bottle. Then run the BD thru a tight filter, less than 5 microns.