Well you've all got me hooked on the idea of magnesol, so now its time to adjust the setup. Is it safe to heat up bio in our water heaters? I'm tryin to distill off the methanol. I know the boiling point is somethin like 137*F, just wondering how to heat it up to 150 or so without chancing a major explosion.

 

Yes it is safe, as long as the eliment is submerged. Just remember that after recovery you'll have to filter out the soap. Kinda like "snot"!

 

So the soap won't settle out, huh? That isn't an issue with water washing, though, is it? Only a problem when you're dry-washing, right?

 

The soap would settle out, but he's using an appleseed style of processor. Most waterheaters have a domed bottom that retains some liquid which you wouldn't want contaminated with soap.

 

Any simple way to heat it without using a water heater? We do the reaction in a 250 gallon poly tank.

 

You won't be distilling any methanol off in a poly tote. I have a steel tank that I use designed after this system
GL's Eco-System state diagram
That after I drain the glyc I distill (around 175 degrees) most but not all the methanol off the BD. Then transfer into a 55 gallon drum that I circulate for a while then let the soap settle out then pump off the top into a 1 micron bag. This year I will be going from the settling tank to a Spinner II fuge for final filtering.

 

Lets say I make 120 gallon batch, using about 26 gallons of methanol. Am I looking at recovering a couple quarts or are we talking several gallons? And after the methanol is distilled off, I will be left with some soap and glycerine in the bottom of the fuel, right? Then its just a matter of separating that out and then on to the magnesol stage?

 

I run an appleseed type of processor (water heater) and I use it to heat the bio to get the methonal off. trick don't let it set in there after you get the methanol off, keep it pumping and mixed until you get into an open tank. the little bit of soap left after that point won't hurt anything. I dry washed all last year using this method and no issues at all, the soap will settle out as soon as you stop moving it though so heat it and get the methanol off then immediately pump into your settling washing tank.

 

Most of the methanol is contained in the byproduct which needs to be drained off before distillation other wise you risk a reverse reaction. On a 120 gallon batch you might see a couple gallons of methanol out of the BD. If you use this method you may find Magnesol not needed or at the worst case you will find it easier (less needed, less time, less mixing) to use.

Like monsterbaby said with this method I don't use any washing. I haven't done any testing to quantify my fuel but with proper settling time (3 days) and final filtering I have clear and clean fuel with no water or soap (shake test with water).