Conversion on 1st batch
#1
Conversion on 1st batch
Completed first batch. titrated @ 5, used 1600 grams of KOH with 7 gallons of methanol & 32 gallons of dewatered oil. Ended up with a little over 30 gallons of Bio and over 8 gallons of glycerine. Will distil the methanol off both the glygerine and the bio tomorrow... Anyway does this sound ok so far?
#4
Methanol mostly in Glycerine?
Distilled the bio yesterday, looks pretty good, even before we wash. After 1.5 hours @ 145 degrees we only got about a little over a half gallon of methanol. It appears most of the methanol is in the glycerin, we will distill that later. Is this normal?
thanks
thanks
#6
#7
I suggest running the 3/27 test before cooking off any methanol. If you do have a failure and the fuel is unwashed and not de-methed, you can heat and add 1.4g/l of KOH and 25-35 ml/l of methanol and re-react.
A couple of biodiesel friends and I have also had some bad batches lately and found it to be the quality of the KOH. I had to move my base amount up to 9.9g/l, corrected for 90% purity KOH. That appears to have solved the incomplete conversion problem.
A couple of biodiesel friends and I have also had some bad batches lately and found it to be the quality of the KOH. I had to move my base amount up to 9.9g/l, corrected for 90% purity KOH. That appears to have solved the incomplete conversion problem.
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#8
#9
The KOH purity will be on the bag, so different supplies will probably vary. Making biodiesel always presents new things to learn and new problems to solve. I sure am glad we don't have that kind of cold here in GA!
Two other things I have learned are:
Pre-treating your oil by heating it and mixing in approximately 20% (by volume) of the glycerin drained from the previous reaction will significantly clean up your oil, remove water (but not if present in excess), and lower the titration. Just heat the oil to about 120F, add glycerin, mix for a couple of hours, and drain the glycerin back off. Then titrate and react as normal. My oil usually titrates 5-6, but lowers to 0.5-1.0 after doing this.
Don [(fabman) thanks Don] gave me this tip: After the reaction is complete as determined by the 3/27 test, demeth the biodiesel and let it settle for 24-48 hours. Soap and glycerin that would normally need to be washed out will settle and you can decant the fuel. Using this method has allowed me to cut my Magnesol use to 2-3g/l.
I decant the fuel and mix Magnesol with a paint stirrer for a couple of hours, settle overnight and filter. I bought a bag filter housing from Fryer to Fuel that allows me to use 1 micron absolute filters and it has been one of my best investments. I have few biodiesel pictures at: Biodiesel - a set on Flickr
Two other things I have learned are:
Pre-treating your oil by heating it and mixing in approximately 20% (by volume) of the glycerin drained from the previous reaction will significantly clean up your oil, remove water (but not if present in excess), and lower the titration. Just heat the oil to about 120F, add glycerin, mix for a couple of hours, and drain the glycerin back off. Then titrate and react as normal. My oil usually titrates 5-6, but lowers to 0.5-1.0 after doing this.
Don [(fabman) thanks Don] gave me this tip: After the reaction is complete as determined by the 3/27 test, demeth the biodiesel and let it settle for 24-48 hours. Soap and glycerin that would normally need to be washed out will settle and you can decant the fuel. Using this method has allowed me to cut my Magnesol use to 2-3g/l.
I decant the fuel and mix Magnesol with a paint stirrer for a couple of hours, settle overnight and filter. I bought a bag filter housing from Fryer to Fuel that allows me to use 1 micron absolute filters and it has been one of my best investments. I have few biodiesel pictures at: Biodiesel - a set on Flickr
#10
I like to use this calculator for my batch's it allows you to adjust for purity.
Matts Recipe Calculator
Matts Recipe Calculator
#11
The KOH purity will be on the bag, so different supplies will probably vary. Making biodiesel always presents new things to learn and new problems to solve. I sure am glad we don't have that kind of cold here in GA!
Two other things I have learned are:
Pre-treating your oil by heating it and mixing in approximately 20% (by volume) of the glycerin drained from the previous reaction will significantly clean up your oil, remove water (but not if present in excess), and lower the titration. Just heat the oil to about 120F, add glycerin, mix for a couple of hours, and drain the glycerin back off. Then titrate and react as normal. My oil usually titrates 5-6, but lowers to 0.5-1.0 after doing this.
Don [(fabman) thanks Don] gave me this tip: After the reaction is complete as determined by the 3/27 test, demeth the biodiesel and let it settle for 24-48 hours. Soap and glycerin that would normally need to be washed out will settle and you can decant the fuel. Using this method has allowed me to cut my Magnesol use to 2-3g/l.
I decant the fuel and mix Magnesol with a paint stirrer for a couple of hours, settle overnight and filter. I bought a bag filter housing from Fryer to Fuel that allows me to use 1 micron absolute filters and it has been one of my best investments. I have few biodiesel pictures at: Biodiesel - a set on Flickr
Two other things I have learned are:
Pre-treating your oil by heating it and mixing in approximately 20% (by volume) of the glycerin drained from the previous reaction will significantly clean up your oil, remove water (but not if present in excess), and lower the titration. Just heat the oil to about 120F, add glycerin, mix for a couple of hours, and drain the glycerin back off. Then titrate and react as normal. My oil usually titrates 5-6, but lowers to 0.5-1.0 after doing this.
Don [(fabman) thanks Don] gave me this tip: After the reaction is complete as determined by the 3/27 test, demeth the biodiesel and let it settle for 24-48 hours. Soap and glycerin that would normally need to be washed out will settle and you can decant the fuel. Using this method has allowed me to cut my Magnesol use to 2-3g/l.
I decant the fuel and mix Magnesol with a paint stirrer for a couple of hours, settle overnight and filter. I bought a bag filter housing from Fryer to Fuel that allows me to use 1 micron absolute filters and it has been one of my best investments. I have few biodiesel pictures at: Biodiesel - a set on Flickr
#12
The KOH purity will be on the bag, so different supplies will probably vary. Making biodiesel always presents new things to learn and new problems to solve. I sure am glad we don't have that kind of cold here in GA!
Two other things I have learned are:
Pre-treating your oil by heating it and mixing in approximately 20% (by volume) of the glycerin drained from the previous reaction will significantly clean up your oil, remove water (but not if present in excess), and lower the titration. Just heat the oil to about 120F, add glycerin, mix for a couple of hours, and drain the glycerin back off. Then titrate and react as normal. My oil usually titrates 5-6, but lowers to 0.5-1.0 after doing this.
Don [(fabman) thanks Don] gave me this tip: After the reaction is complete as determined by the 3/27 test, demeth the biodiesel and let it settle for 24-48 hours. Soap and glycerin that would normally need to be washed out will settle and you can decant the fuel. Using this method has allowed me to cut my Magnesol use to 2-3g/l.
I decant the fuel and mix Magnesol with a paint stirrer for a couple of hours, settle overnight and filter. I bought a bag filter housing from Fryer to Fuel that allows me to use 1 micron absolute filters and it has been one of my best investments. I have few biodiesel pictures at: Biodiesel - a set on Flickr
Two other things I have learned are:
Pre-treating your oil by heating it and mixing in approximately 20% (by volume) of the glycerin drained from the previous reaction will significantly clean up your oil, remove water (but not if present in excess), and lower the titration. Just heat the oil to about 120F, add glycerin, mix for a couple of hours, and drain the glycerin back off. Then titrate and react as normal. My oil usually titrates 5-6, but lowers to 0.5-1.0 after doing this.
Don [(fabman) thanks Don] gave me this tip: After the reaction is complete as determined by the 3/27 test, demeth the biodiesel and let it settle for 24-48 hours. Soap and glycerin that would normally need to be washed out will settle and you can decant the fuel. Using this method has allowed me to cut my Magnesol use to 2-3g/l.
I decant the fuel and mix Magnesol with a paint stirrer for a couple of hours, settle overnight and filter. I bought a bag filter housing from Fryer to Fuel that allows me to use 1 micron absolute filters and it has been one of my best investments. I have few biodiesel pictures at: Biodiesel - a set on Flickr
Suppposed to be back up in the 40's in a couple days, so plan on finishing this batch and starting the next... thanks
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