As of today, I have processed 465 gallons of bio. I HAVE NOT collected any methanol during any of the batches. I have talked to Fabman till (I think) he is ready to change his phone number. The only thing I can think that I am doing wrong is possibly heating the oil too high (150F-160F) to mix the Meoh with. I believe boiling point of methanol is approx 148F. Could it be I'm boiling off all the methanol while I am mixing it? I tried heating it in a pan and there appeared to be none in the mix after running it through the heating chamber (160F) I also tried to ignite a small quantity in a cooking pan with a torch. It did not readily burn. I have therefore determined there is no methanol in the bio so I dry wash with Magnesol. Where do you suppose the methanol went? I am thinking if I pull a vacuum on the line leaving the condensor, I could possibly lower the pressure and capture the methanol although I am not sure there is any to capture. Other than that problem, the bio is coming out beautiful and I am running B100 year round. I just would like to lower my costs by capturing the methanol. Any suggestions from you-all would be greatly appreciated. Don, you know exactly what my setup looks like so maybe you could jump in there again. Thankyou for all your help. Tom

 

We wait until the oil cools to about 135 before adding the methanol. The exothermic reaction maintains the temp during the reaction, and when all is done, both the glycerine and the bio have a rather strong methanol odor. Still need to recover the methanol from the glycerine, will do that the next couple days as we run the next batch.
You've got use beat for gallons processed, we've got some catching up to do...

 

At 150F there is no doubt your MeOH went up the vent.

 

Yep, toooo hot! Methanol boils off at 148.5 deg at sea level. I run mine about 145 deg, but my methoxide is premixed and cold when introduced.

 

Thank you all for the info. I will make necessary corrections and try again. Tom