Lee, While I agree entirely with Todd, I can see that you are just busting to give it a go.
There are several forms of cracking processes and subsequent re-forming carried out in your "friendly neighbourhood oil refinery". But historically, they all grew from thermal cracking and the very wide range of products it produces. This thermal cracking and primary separation was carried out in a device called a pipe-still. I'm sure that text-books and professors in your local University or technical College could give you access to diagrams and pictures. Have a look in your local technology museum. About 1920 ish So, if you really want to give it a whirl, get yourself a piece of 6" dia pipe with 1/2 ins thick walls and weld a flat bottom onto one end of it. Use a piece of steel with a thickness of at least 1/4 ins and make sure that the weld is a good one. (Your life may depend on it!) Cut an internal thread at the other end of your pipe section so you can screw in a reducer to bring the diameter down to about 2". You will probably need about 12 feet of 2" pipe to screw into the end of this unit and with several 1" diameter branches, each of which runs to a condenser. (This can be as simple as a rag which is kept wet all the time draped over the outside of these side pipes). Mount the whole thing vertically and insulate everything but the pot at the bottom. Mineral wool is probably best but fibre-glass will do. Cover the insulation with aluminium foil if there is any chance that the rain or your condenser water could wet the insulation. Now put your oil in the pot at the bottom before you screw it to the 2 ins dia pipe-still supported above it. The pot will have to be heated to at least 200C before the oil starts cracking and the separate fractions start to appear at the side pipes. A charcoal fire should do the job. But a gas burner will work as well or even better: It has the advantage that if your weld leaks, the hot oil will not drain into the fire! :-( You will have difficulty in getting enough oil into a short length of the 6 ins pipe so I have not specified the length. You can decide that when you design the burner to do the job. A series of gas burners working over a large pot may be the answer here. (Visit that "friendly neighbourhood oil-refinery" and see how they do it) One of the first improvements that was made in the pipe-still was the provision of a continuous feed of oil to the pot. The second was the recycling of the gases that came out of the top of the pipe so that they provided fuel for the furnace. Early problems were with the side branches coking up with tarry residues for which there was no commercial application. Someone had the bright idea of using the gunk that was left in the pot as a tar-seal for dusty roads! And so tar-macadam was born: an engineered system of road-building and sealing that made possible the modern, high-speed motor vehicle. If this all sounds like re-inventing the wheel, well it is! You will certainly need to carry out a lot of experimentation before you can rival the overall efficiency of that "friendly neighbourhood oil refinery." And you will doubtless have the environmentalists howling at your door asking questions about black smoke, tar, dioxin production and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) content. Better get yourself a good lawyer! Especially if you are going to try this without a good chemical engineer on hand. Do let me know how you get on. Good luck Michael Allen Thailand --- Appal Energy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Lee, > > Catalytic cracking is a rather involved chemical and > mechanical > process, conducted under high temp and quite often > high pressure. > Primary and co-products are extracted at different > stages > throughout the process, using multitudes of > techniques. > > One look at a petrochemical facility and its > multiple fractional > distillation toweres should give you an idea that, > no matter what > scale the, in general the process is intensive in > design. > > Which puts the process in general out of the hands > of "shadetree > biodieselers." > > Mind you, working with a simple product containing > but a handful > of different esters would be far easier than a bbl > of crude with > its multitudinous co-products. But the intensity of > the mechnics, > processes and procedures would still be a hurdle. > > I'd say that you might care to pick up a loaf > sourdough and a > couple bottles of wine, then corner your favorite > professor in > chemistry for a little sit down chat. Talk is > usually > inexpensive. It's when you have to start buying all > the > stainless, valves, fittings and vessels and putting > them together > under the tutilege of a professional that the > kroners start to > add up. > > Todd Swearingen > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Lee Sheppard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <biofuels-biz@yahoogroups.com> > Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2002 9:44 PM > Subject: Re: [biofuels-biz] Cracking > > > > So then maybe building a solar cracking unit might > be a option. > What > > would be involved in cracking? Is it a just purely > a heat > process. Or > > are other factors involved? From the previous > discussions it > sounded > > like an involved process or can you run a > calculation that > gives you the > > right input and output yields? > > > > Appal Energy wrote: > > > > >Lee, > > > > > >First thing? Utilize alcohols such as isopropanol > and isobutyl > > >rather than methanol. To what degree the process > would need to > be > > >altered to achieve high conversion ratios isn't > clear, but > there > > >would almost assuredly need to be some > alterations. > > > > > >You could just fractionally distill the esters > without any > > >catalytic cracking. Shuttle your longer chain > esters to > southern > > >climes and the shorter chains to northern climes. > But if high > > >energy inputs were put into a distillation > effort, cracking > would > > >probably be included just to keep the cost/yield > ratio low. > > > > > >One could also go the route that US DOD and NREL > have toyed > with, > > >cryo-cooling the esters and separating them. > Rumour has it > that > > >this type of experimentation was being done with > biodiesel so > > >that it could be used at high altitudes, where > the reduced > > >emissions from biodiesel would contribute to > con-trail > formation > > >to a lesser degree than petroleum based fuels. > > > > > >Now if you were to ask me what I would personally > do to reduce > > >the gel point, it would be one of two things. The > first is > > >"absolutely nothing,"modifiying the system to > accomodate that > > >particular "weak point" of the fuel. Such > modifications would > > >include the usual tank heater with a few mods to > forward heat > to > > >the injectors and pump, a two tank system (one > being but a > liter > > >or two for fossil diesel) and fuel heating > systems that > utilize > > >both exhaust and coolant as the heating mediums. > > > > > >It's not uncommon in my experience to push the > nose of a > vehicle > > >or plane under a tent flap, where a well vented > pot belly > stove > > >is stoked all night. (Nights can get kinda' long > north of the > > >Goldstream Valley.) A few simple mods to > accomodate biodiesel > > >would be of considerably less overall effort. > Granted...neither > > >approach is as "turn key" as society has come to > expect. > > > > > >The second approach would be to start working > with alternative > > >alcohols. But even then, zero and sub-zero > conditions (*F) > would > > >still prove quite problematic. > > > > > >The idea of distillation and cracking is not at > all attractive > > >from an energy inputs perspective, but would > probably become > the > > >approach of choice using centralized > "mega-facilities," rather > > >than micro. One problem there would be that the > fuel is only > > >seasonal, which would force such a facility to > distill and > store > > >fuel in advance or leave the facility without any > functional > > >purpose relative to biodiesel ~one-half of each > year. > > > > > >I don't think you'll see Appal going that route > unless we > could > > >implement solar concentrators. Rather, we'll > probably stay in > the > > >right hand lane and keep travelling 55, getting > wherever > everyone > > >else goes in just about the same time and style. > > > > > >Todd Swearingen > > >Appal Energy > > > > > >----- Original Message ----- > > >From: Lee Sheppard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >To: <biofuels-biz@yahoogroups.com> > > >Sent: Friday, September 13, 2002 11:26 AM > > >Subject: Re: [biofuels-biz] Cracking > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >>Todd Swearingen so what can be done to > bio-diesel to lower > the > > >> > > >> > > >gel > > > > > > > > >>point? I know that adding gasoline to diesel in > winter is > done > === message truncated === __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! News - Today's headlines http://news.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! 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