Bruce,
When I started making biodiesel years ago, I washed the biodiesel to remove the suspended soaps and residual methanol. I found the washing process to be the source of most of my issues and on a number of occasions I inadvertantly created ‘glop’. This is more likely when using WVO (Waste Veg Oil), which is what I use today. Virgin oil is more forgiving in the wash process as I understand. Also washing is a temperature sensitive process. You can get away with a more agressive washing process in the summer than in the winter, or you would need to heat your wash water, which can help, but takes a lot of extra energy.
I moved away from washing using a process developed by an englishman named Graham Laming.
http://www.graham-laming.com/bd/ecosystem/state_diagram_new.htm
Essentially, this process works because, if you can remove the residual methanol from the biodiesel, the soap in suspentionion can now settle out, eliminating the need to water wash.
The process differs from water washing in that once the biodiesel is made, I distill out the excess methanol ( Which can be used for future batches). Then transfer to a settling tank and let it sit for about 2 days. The Soaps settle out of suspention and the fuel is ready to use.
I can post some pictures of my setup if there is an interest.
I use an old HW heater and element as a reactor/mixing vessel as they are cheaply available, can handle a lot of heat without melting, the HW Heater element is a really cheap heater and is insulated to keep the biodiesel warm while waiting for the glycerin to settle.
John
John,
Thank you for the further explanation and link regarding a washless BD process. I would be very interested to see your pics. This is a great discussion we have going on BD production.
Thanks everyone.
Bruce,
The basic setup is called an appleseed processor. You can see some pics here. It is a very simple and inexpensive setup and makes a good starting point.
As far as washing and drying goes, I have eliminated “glop” or an emulsion by changing my system and techniques over the years. I water wash hot BioD with hot water (heated in my outdoor furnace). I use the right heads and the right flow rates, etc. Also, I use KOH vs. NAOH as the catalyst which makes washing easier and more successful. So much of this is oil dependant however, that we are putting the cart before the horse a bit here. For example, if you have a high titrating WVO as the feedstock, you will do things differently than using virgin, or good qualilty WVO. If you can give me an indication what your feedstock might be, summer and winter ave temps, and the amount of space you have to work with, I can make some recommendations with links to additional reading.
I can tell you it is a rewarding hobby if you enjoy science and chemistry, enjoy tinkering on tractors and autos, are willing to dedicate the time, and have the space to do it where you are not worried about a little oil spill on the floor (or 70 gallons running down the driveway). Generally speaking, you can do this with a small initial investment of $200, like an appleseed, and then grow from there if you re-invest your savings back into the hobby.
Here’s an example of 2 guys building the king of the appleseed with separate drywash (uses ion polymer rather than water to wash BioD) in a day. Even this is way overkill to get started:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw-R6eoARxs
High praise indeed capt’n!
If I could figure out how to convert algae or duckweed into BioD economically, I’d need a pretty big staff to count my piles of cash. There might even be a job in it for you, but you would need to be able to stomach PMs as well as FRNs.
What you have been able to accomplish is very impressive. The only problem I have with people like JAG, EGP, mooselick, yourself, is that you leave me feeling very inadequate. If I could find a way to do 1/10th of what you guys are doing, I think I would feel pretty good about myself and my family.
Me too. And I wish I was a good 20 years younger as well!Don’t take this as criticism, but I think doing without is not only possible… but also a whole lot easier!
Mike
Wow, great stuff, Ready! There’s hope yet for ordinary folks who want to get crackin’.
It sounds like after years of having people do this, it would be awesome if we had more readily-available commercialization of the product, just as you can buy a big $5,000 or $10,000 wood-burning furnace or solar water heating system, or a Vegestroke kit.
A farmer could buy his own small home system that does the pressing, titration/testing, processing, etc. and tells you how much you have to input of what chemicals, based on the canola or vegetable oil input/quality.
Is there anything on the market like this already?
Poet
This is pretty close,however electricity is neccessary:http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/biopro380.php
Got the link from “Ready’s” original post. Its quite a good deal if you;ve the neccessary infrastructure in place.
robie
[quote=Poet]Wow, great stuff, Ready! There’s hope yet for ordinary folks who want to get crackin’.
It sounds like after years of having people do this, it would be awesome if we had more readily-available commercialization of the product, just as you can buy a big $5,000 or $10,000 wood-burning furnace or solar water heating system, or a Vegestroke kit.
A farmer could buy his own small home system that does the pressing, titration/testing, processing, etc. and tells you how much you have to input of what chemicals, based on the canola or vegetable oil input/quality.
Is there anything on the market like this already?
Poet
[/quote]
Poet,
In a word, yes there are “commercialized” systems out there. BUT, most have incorrect or incomplete information and processes. The most common systems out there have calculation sheets that are off, safety controls are suspect and the last time I looked, most used PVC pipe in process critical systems.
C.
Ready,
What a great write-up and a fantastically clean work space for bio-d!!!
How do I know? I have been producing, learning, making mistakes, and experimenting with bio-d and wvo since 2005. (minus the last year or so since I have moved and left my entire processor system back home)
I started with small batch bio-d and even taught my (at the time) 12 year old daughter how to do a “Dr. Pepper” batch, explain the process and it won her 1st place in a science competition. So the science isn’t much harder than high school chemistry BUT it does not mean that it is as safe as H.S. chemistry.
I have built an “Apple Turn-Over” processor and then converted it to Graham Laming’s Eco-System Processor.
I have built a methanol recovery still.
I settled and dewatered the wvo traditionally and by using Graham’s system to dewater as well as recover the first round of methanol.
In the end, I moved away from bio-d and more toward wvo use. Why?
Traditional “washing” of the bio-d was very water intensive and put methanol into the waste stream.
Glycerin disposal required methanol recovery for safety (even though I made the “best” glycerin soap)
Methanol and lye safety
The Eco-System, while making recovery of methanol easier and as pointed out required less washing it was still energy input intensive.
Time required to “run a batch” became more of a chore than a pleasure.
So, in the end, I used wvo, dewatered, and filtered (never got around to building/buying a centrifuge) and blended up to 50% in a diesel Jeep Liberty and an '83 Mercedes 300SD. Didn’t put a two tank system in either car. Sadly, competition for the wvo sources led to some guys either stealing from my collection barrels or, in one case, someone paid the restaurant owner for the oil. After hundreds of gallons used, I had no problems with my cars. BUT I religiously dewatered and filtered the oil. I found that the time I took for collection, filtering, and dewatering did not pay. That was sub $4/gallon diesel.
My wife was glad to see me leave the set-up back home along with the “lifestyle”. However, not that diesel is $4/gallon she even asked me if I was going to “start-up” again. I told her that she would have to secure wvo soures. I still evaluate the “quality” of a restaurant by the quality of their fired foods. In fact one of the first restaurants we ate in here in NC has the best fried “pickles and chips”. I said to her, “hey babe, I wonder what type of oil they…” She interrupted me and said, “Don’t even think about it!”
I suppose, if I could secure wvo supply and find the time to collect, filter and dewater… I would not hesitate using wvo again!
C.
Graydon is well respected in the community of biodieselers. Nothing is quite as easy to use as it looks. Feed stock varies, humidity, temp, etc.
If anyone is interested, I would suggest Goggling “Dr. Pepper Method” and read, read, read. Oh, and get a diesel if you don’t have one.
C.
Ready,
What a great post on an awesome project (hobby?). I’ve long pondered personal energy solutions like methanol/alcohol a la David Blume or a Green steam engine to generate electricity, but you’ve tipped my thinking towards BioD or SVO. Is this method economically scalable, down to a smaller level of production, say something proportionate for a field of one or two acres? I notice here that sunflower (BOSS-- Black Oil Sunflower Seed) oil has a yield per acre just slightly less than rapeseed. I’m in Southern California where I would think that the warmer climate would reduce the gel and viscosity issues, but water to irrigate crops is somewhat scarce. I’m thinkin’ sunflower seed oil might be the winner for me. What do you think?
A really great combination of DIY, prep for Post-Peak-Cheap-Oil, and SHTF Entrepreneurialism. Makes me want to become a BioD Sheik.
Hello Earthwise,
I don’t think I would appproach growing your own seedcrop one or 2 acres at a time. The machinery to plant, harvest, press, and degum takes a broader base of oil produced to become economically viable. There are a couple other options however:
1 Collect WVO from resturants, schools, hosptials, recycling centers,
2 Pay for your oil from a renderer. This is not a great option any more since BioD was subsidized by Obama Dec 2010. WVO is now $.40 a pound, putting it slightly less than diesel. When this subsidy expires, this may become an option again.
3 Work with a farmer who already has the tools to grow some for both of you. He grows, you process, share the result.
Good luck.
R
Baron Von Sager has a nice ring to it.
Thanks for the input to the thread Carl.
While pouring WVO thru a sock filter can be a bit tiresome, you can certainly start out SVO that way pretty cheaply. Once you start saving money, a centrifuge makes light (I think) pleasurable work of filtering. Resulting oil is far superior in quality, and I can do a weeks worth of oil usage in a couple of hours with only 10 or so minutes of hands on time, and I never touch the oil. Once you get to this point, it is not laborius in the least. Then again, my system is so overboard anyone else’s that I have ever seen, it can only be classified as a hobby, and something I clearly enjoy to put that much effort into it. I get how others could look at all this and just wonder why???
Collection can be very easy too. It’s all in how you think it thru. I use a super sucker which will suck a 55G drum clean in about 2 minutes even in the dead of winter. Mounted to a trailer, the vacuum builds on my trip to the collection point. I jump out, open a valve, whistle a quick tune, and I’m gone. Once home, put her in reverse and spit it back out at the same rate.
Again, this is a several year process, and I started out with a DC gear pump and this stupid contraption my boys named Olive Oyl that rolled onto the bed of my truck and had 2 rubbermaid brute trash cans as the holding tank. It worked, and I collected a TON of oil that way, but it was 1/2 hour at each pickup point, and I had to come home in between to empty out. Now I can pickup 250 gallons in one trip.
I now have a pickup from a non-restaurant that gives me 50 - 60 gallons of high quality oil per week. So in a single stop, I can pick up over 200 gallons once a month. That is efficiency, don’t you think?
So look at it this way:
Total pickup time: 45 minutes on a bad traffic day. Most of that is driving.
Total filter time: 3 hours, of which about 20 minutes on the high side is hands on.
So, for 3 hours 45 minutes out of my weekend (most of which is not direct hands on time) I get the equivalent of 3000 miles of driving for “free.”
The numbers work out just fine if you do it right, and re-invest your early savings into collection and filtration systems.
Example of a super sucker:
Thank you, Robie Robinson and RNcarl, et al. for the links on the commercial solutions.
The prices don’t look too prohibitive at all for an upstart young entrepreneur, though sourcing methanol and feedstock would probably require more work and effort.
Just speculation, of course (I’m a suburban dweller), but I wonder if it would make more sense to be an early adopter or wait until the commercial solutions become commonplace (and cheaper) throughout rural America as oil prices continue to skyrocket!
Poet
While I do appreciate the ease of use of the BioPro, I’m not sure I would elect to go that way were I you. If you look closely, there is more to it than electricity and methanol. You will also be adding NAOH, and believe it or not sulfuric acid. The acid is used to pre-treat the oil to convert free fatty acids into a molocule of BioD, and reduces the titration value (PH) of the oil, which in turn requires the use of less catalyst, but really is intended to allow nasty, overused WVO to be successfully converted to BioD while keeping yeilds up and soap down.
That was a mouthful. Bottom line, this device (with all of it’s goods and bads) has to be created for the lowest common denominator. As such, it is somewhat wasteful, very overpriced, and not very flexible.
Now, if you are willing to use your brain to process rather than leaving it to a machine, you can build a system and the building to house it in for less than the cost of the BioPro.
In terms of now or later, the biggest issue most folks have is feedstock. If you have a way to obtain WVO or SVO pressed, then I don’t see a benefit to waiting. I know a lot of biodieselers, and I only know of one who has (the original) BioPro. I just don’t see a lot of potential for a company to get rich making these machines currently. We tend to be tinkerers by nature if attracted to this hobby, and most are going to roll their sleeves up and build the system they want for a fraction of the price. I guess what I am saying is that waiting for the market to drive invention may take longer than you might expect. Now if oil goes to $200, that will obviously change things a bit but there will clearly be a lag between cost going up and deliverable product…
Testing the water on feedstock collection should be a first step. If you have freinds or family in the restaurant biz, are neighbors with the school lunch lady, know the maintenance man at the hospital, or simply frequent a restaurant where they know you, it doesn’t hurt to start asking questions. Once you have a steady stream of oil, your options become a whole lot wider. Even if you decide not to process it yourself because you don’t yet have all the equipment, you can sell it on craigslist for $3 per gallon to someone who will. Put an add up for WVO and they will come runnin!
Cheers,
R
Amazing setup ready… ! reminds me of some of the deluxe homebrew setups I occasionally lust over.
You can use the rape seed oil for electricity generation too ?
So in principle, you have transport, heating, electricity, human and animal food from one crop…wow !
Feed some chickens the oilcake and you have endless mayonnaise!! slurp
The biggest hurdle is where do you get all these supplies when Oil becomes unavailable or just rediculuously expensive? I believe your making a poor assumption that these will be available when oil become unavailable. If you planning on Biofuels to replace your fossil fuel inputs, you will need to provide the means to produce methanol, Lye and most import Vegetable oil. FWIW: The production of Vegetable oil with reasonable extraction yields requires industrialize production. Typically the Oil is extracted from plant matter using a powerful solvent, such as hexane or SuperCritical CO2. Hexane is separated from the oil and reused, but there are losses (evaporation, absorbtion) that must be made up from stock. its impractical to manufacture hexane onsite, and hexane is also a known carcinogen. A simple press will only extract a small fraction of the oil in the feedstock. Solvent extraction is required to be effective. Food grade Vegetable oil (Canola, Corn, or non-virgin Olive oil) is typically extracted with hexane.
http://www.gemco-machine.com/Oil-Press/Small-Oil-Press.html
Soybean Oil Extraction by screw press yield approximately 10% to 16% of the oil. Soybeans contain approximate 20% oil by weight. So 10 Pounds of Soybean will yeild at the very most 5 ounce of oil, Probably less then 3 ounces in real world conditions. Transesterification of oil into biodiesel has an approximate yeild of 75%, which means 10 Pounds of soybeans yields approximately 3.75 to 2 ounces of biodiesel. Assuming a screw press is used for extraction (no solvents).
Mostly most people will need every acre of tiable land to ensure enough food is available. Consider that every year you will need to plan about 2.5 to 3 acres to feed a single person for a year (much more if you expect to include meat protein in your diet). Consider into your figures what happens when a crop is lost to poor weather, disease or infestation. One must grown substantial more food than is consumed to ensure there is enough in the even of a less than perfect growing season. Be prepared to have seasons where 90% to 100% of the crop ruined, becuase it does happen. The news is filled with devestating crop losses in many regions.
A more practical solution would be wood-gas, which does require chemical supplies. Wood gas uses combustible biomass (Wood, hay, etc) that is combusted in a gasifier to produce Wood gas (or refered to producer gas) consisting of Hydrogen and carbon-monoxide, Oxygen and nitrogen, This gas is feed into an engine (gasoline, diesel or Natural gas power engines). An engine running on producer gas will produce about 30% of the power compared with gasoline or diesel. Other than Biomass, no chemicals or supplies are required, Only the materials required to construct the gasifier and connect it to the engine are required. Woodgas was widely used during WW2 and after when Fuel became unavailable. Farmers turned to Wood-gas to run farm machinary, not biodiesel (as Rudolf Diesel has intended when he designed the diesel engine)
Note: Handling Lye and Methnol is hazardous. Methenol poisioning can occur if it touches your skin or inhaled. Lye is very caustic and will burn flesh to the bone, Washing lye with water can increase the damage caused, since water will feed anhyrogous lye causing it to aggressively attack flesh… A solution of Sodium bicarbonate (works with both acids and bases). Eye contact with either Methanol or Lye will result in blindness or at least impaired sight in very small quantities. Extreme caution and good safety equipment is required at all times when handling these chemicals.I noticed in the video that the operator adding Lye into the batch did not wear the proper gloves as there was skin exposed that would be easily burned if some of the lye touched on his exposed forearms. You need to wear full arm gloves when handling Lye. That said Producer gas is also poisonous and does require safety precausions too.