FIRST BATCH!!

[sea71]

Well my first batch(100 liters) got put in the reactoe last night, reacted, and mixed for 3 1/2 hours. It will settle till tomorrow. While I waqs waiting for the batch to mix, I thought "why do nothing while I wait", so I dumped another 30 gallons of oil in my dewatering/filtering drum, and put the heater to it, and it reached temp about the time the reactor was finisheing its mix. So right now I have 26ish gallons in the water heater settling, and 30 gallons in the dewatering drum settling. I will transfer the reacted batch to the wash tank tomorrow and start washing it. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!

[Patrick]

Man you got it tuff. I pulled up to the pump yesterday, pulled out Larrys credit card, and filled her up! lol

Good job Shane, looks like your enjoying your new toy.

[tubular031]

Mine always looks good till I start to wash it... then it starts too look nasty for a while. I keep getting LOTS of soap in my bio that sticks to the wash water and makes some snot looking stuff till I wash the hell out of it. Soft water SUCKS!!!

Keep on keeping on! you will kill a few batches along the way (we all do) just take your time and keep that glycerine incase you make a peanut butter milkshake!

Also do a 3/27 at 70 deg (use a water bath to keep it there) before you start washing because if you fail the 3/27 its almost for sure going to make a peanutbutter milkshake

[sea71]

Originally Posted by tubular031

Mine always looks good till I start to wash it... then it starts too look nasty for a while. I keep getting LOTS of soap in my bio that sticks to the wash water and makes some snot looking stuff till I wash the hell out of it. Soft water SUCKS!!!

Keep on keeping on! you will kill a few batches along the way (we all do) just take your time and keep that glycerine incase you make a peanut butter milkshake!

Also do a 3/27 at 70 deg (use a water bath to keep it there) before you start washing because if you fail the 3/27 its almost for sure going to make a peanutbutter milkshake

So, 3/27 before wash tank?(at 70 ish degrees? I have a heater suspended in my wash tank and the thermo set at 75(havent used it yet cause its my first batch). IF she fails 3/27, what do YOU do with the batch at that point? Thanks.

[tubular031]

The 3/27 Conversion Test - Collaborative Biodiesel Tutorial

Here is how I do mine.

First drain the glycerine off the bottom. make sure that you get it ALL out even if you have to drain some bio out with it. just set that stuff aside and you will re claim it later. its better to lose some Bio then to try washing with glycerine in there (I have learned that the hard way!)

I take a cup of water and fill it up and add a cube of ice or 2. Stick a meat thermometer in there to verrify the temp. Once the water is stable at 68 ish (lots of adding warm water or drop in the cubes and then remove them when the water hit the temp) I get my little clear screw top container and put 27 ml of methanol in there, then quickly close the top and drop it in the water for 15 minutes. Then I go outside and stick my arm in the top of my open barrel and get 3ml of bio. my processor is a appleseed but I use a open 55 gal drum rather then a water heater. Then back inside I take the little clear screw top container out and open it up and put the 3 ml of bio in it. Shake it around to dislove all the bio into the methanol then drop it back in to the water. Now leave it alone for 30 minutes. every 10 minutes or so I come back and check to see the water temp to make sure its still 68 ish. If it starts to warm up a little I carefully add a little more water from another cup with cool water in it. only add a little at a time. you dont want to cool it too much... after 30 minutes, carefully remove the clear container and look for fall out. Whatever falls out is unreacted oil. If you pass, move it to the wash tank and start washing. If you fail, time to reprocess.

In that pic, the jar on the left is what happened when I tried to wash Bio that failed the 3/27. I made 10 gal of that jar... emulsion... you will make a few no biggie, just put the glycerine back into the mess and in a day or 3 it will seperate out again.
Breaking Emulsions - Collaborative Biodiesel Tutorial Website

[Clay Henry]

Complicated.....i like the WVO method way too much

[tubular031]

Originally Posted by CHenry

Complicated.....i like the WVO method way too much

I agree! so do I but I can not afford/justify the 4k for the kit to convert my truck! plus to convert my Bio rig into a SVO filter will only take a few turns of the wrench and the cost is the same... So if I land a bunch of oil and 4k, I am SVO all the way! I got something in the works now, but waiting on my stock to build up before I pull the trigger on the veggie kit.

[Clay Henry]

Originally Posted by tubular031

I agree! so do I but I can not afford/justify the 4k for the kit to convert my truck! plus to convert my Bio rig into a SVO filter will only take a few turns of the wrench and the cost is the same... So if I land a bunch of oil and 4k, I am SVO all the way! I got something in the works now, but waiting on my stock to build up before I pull the trigger on the veggie kit.

Get a signature loan from your baank and make the payments with the 500 bucks a month you save in fuel. It will be paid for in no time!

[sea71]

Well, 24 hours have passed since the introduction of methoxide into my first batch.(last night). I drained the glycerin. Flow and color changed and I knew when to close valve. I circulated the oil in the reactor. Performed 27/3 test(twice). Cloudy with minimal dropout both tests. Did the jar test(1/2 water-1/2 oil) and the top looks kinda like baby food. LOL!! I just introduced 50ml methanol per liter of oil and 1 g of KOH per liter into the reactor and am processing again. Will check again tomorrow night.

Shane, this needs to be your avatar.