Newbie B100 Questions
 

ok, i've spent quite a few hours reading up on b100 and am completely fired up about it. i do have a few questions that i coulnt find answers for.

best i can tell, the end product produces the b100, the "glycerin", and the wash water. obviously, the b100 goes in the truck, but what do you do with the wash water and the glycerin? are these things toxic? how do you dispose of them?

also, i live in wisconsin, winter can get pretty cold at times. will the b100 "gel"?

i heard about what happened in minnestota last winter with the blend over there and i definately want to avoid that.

thanks in advance for any input.

1997 f250hd psd crew cab. original owner.

That's a good question! I heard somewhere that you can make soap from the byproducts, but I don't know if that's true or not. After all, how much soap do you need? I would think that the lye would be somewhat caustic unless some stage of the process neutralizes it, but I sure don't know enough about it either. I too would be interested in knowing what is done with the by products? Can the be made into something else that's useful or even re-used?

Mark

Welcome to FTE :-X25 If you are'nt "burnt out" on reading try here; http://biodieselcommunity.org They have the best info on the web. I use KOH as a catalist and use the glycerol By-product as a liquid fertilizer and as a fuel for my processer. I don't "wash" my Biodiesel, I use settling for 1 month as a substitute for washing, so I can't tell you anything about what to do with the wash water.

FABMANDELUX. :-X25 :-fire

Fab
You just spray it straight, dilute it, or mix it with other chemicals?
Have you noticed any affect on the crop you sprayed it on?

I mixed it 50-50 with water and sprayed it at a rate of 4 gal/acre. Yes I have noticed some additional growth on the alfalfa [1 acre test plot]. After this cutting I'm going to apply at 8 gal/acre on another 1 acre test plot. I will keep you informed if you would like?

FABMANDELUX. :-X25 :-fire

Sure would cause I will be spraying a field full of Coastal Bermuda, hay production, if it is practical.

Hey Fabman,
Do you distill the glycerol to get the remaining methenol out before using it as a fertilizer.

Yes I do, It's one reason I keep my price per gal of bio lower. I have pics of my "still" in my gallery.

FABMANDELUX. :-X25 :-fire

My cousin has just gotten started on the BD process. he hasn't washed any of the test batchs so far so no waste wash water to get rid of. The glycerin on the other hand, I am going to try mixing with sawdust from my sawmill and tosseing it in my outdoor boiler.

Fabman
You won't catch me dumping that stuff on my garden. But then I don't use any commercial chemicals on my garden. I'm not feeding my veggies with it

I don't have a garden, I have a commercial alfalfa crop. Anything I can do to decrease my use of commercial fertlizer is a plus for me. After the methanol is removed you basicaly have a sugar[the glycerin] and potassium left. There are organic farms here in Oregon that use the glycerol as an organic fertilizer with good results, so what's the problem? The glycerol can also be used in your compost, It helps feed the bacteria. If you use NaOH it makes a very good organic weed killer.

FABMANDELUX. :-X25 :-fire

My brother farms organic, certified by OCIA If it's not listed s in the handbook he has to send it in to have a chemical analysis done on it. If it meets their standards you get an exemption to use it and then they add it to the next handbook. I'll have to look next time I'm at my brothers to see what it says about it.

I just kind of assumed it wasn't going to be good stuff to be dumping on the ground.

All depends on who certified those farms organic. USDA certification doesn't mean anything in my book, they relaxed the rules a lot. OCIA is the oldest and the only one that is international to my knowledge.

Sorry I got off topic, back to my original idea, how flammable is it after you distill out the methanol?

B100
 

I heard that if you do some sort of mix between the Bio and some petroleum based diesel it you shouldnt have any type of gelling problem, but straight B100 wil gel in really cold temperatures

Welcome to FTE :-X25 I use B-100 from March- November, In winter I use B-80 [80 percent bio-20 percent Dino-diesel] and have had no problems down to +10 deg F. Lower temps will require more diesel to be added to the mix.

FABMANDELUX. :-X25 :-fire

It will burn, But it takes quite a bit of heat to get started. It burns really hot tho once you get it started. Just be very carefull, unless you burn it ABOVE 1,200 deg F it produces acrolean gas which is VERY TOXIC, and can KILL YOU.

FABMANDELUX. :-X25 :-fire

guess I won't be doing that then