Joe, Funny you mention the satellite dish. I am gathering materials to build a small satellite dish solar concentrator. I am going to glue mylar to the surface of the dish and have a black pipe at the focal point to heat the working liquid. My guess is I'll have to figure out how to regulate flow and track the sun very well.
What's the best source for a sun tracker? On 4/28/06, Joe Street <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Several years ago a guy up the street was out on a sunny day with a plastic > fesnel lens that was about a meter long and 2/3 meter wide and he and his > son were focusing the sun on about a 10cm sized spot on some asphault he had > added to the end of his driveway. The asphault was smoking. I grabbed a > twig and put it on the concrete curb stone and asked him to put the sun on > it. He moved the spot to it and it burst into flame in a second! I have > heard of people getting surplus C-band satellite dishes (the big ones) and > glueing little peices of broken mirrors to the dish and putting a heat > exchanger up at the dishes feedpoint. It needs to be aimed at the sun but > it would be very powerful and dead cheap! > > Joe > > > Thomas Kelly wrote: > > Thanks Todd. > It must have been 25 years ago that a friend was going to prepare > lunch in a "solar oven". The idea appealed to me at the time, but on a warm > sunny day we watched and waited, and ended up having to fire up the grill. > Solar ovens have apparently come a long way since then or you wouldn't > be recommending them for regenerating zeolytes. > I just Googled "Solar Oven". Something about solar cooking still > appeals to me, but I remain skeptical. In one part of a web page it says > they "quickly heat up to 360 -400F". In another part of the same site it > says Superior Cooking is due to the "slow even rise in temp." It's that slow > rise in temp that concerns me. > Are you referring to the same solar ovens (under $200 US) that can be > used to cook food (and do they really work?) or is there some other, high > tech version? > Tom > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Appal Energy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <biofuel@sustainablelists.org> > Sent: Friday, April 28, 2006 1:56 PM > Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Water in recovered methanol? > > > > > > I came across molecular sieves while reading about ethanol > > purification, and was > > > lead to believe (mistakenly?)that they can be regenerated by drying > > in the sun. > > The temp needed can be achieved in a solar oven. > > Todd Swearingen > > > Thomas Kelly wrote: > > > > Joe, > Thanks for the reply. > You wrote: > 1. "There is a significant energy input into regenerating the seives > as well. You have to bake them at well over 100 degrees C more like > 200, but you can get by with lower temps if you bake them out with > vacuum." > > I came across molecular sieves while reading about ethanol > purification, and was lead to believe (mistakenly?)that they can be > regenerated by drying in the sun. > > "Try putting a thermometer in your condenser and monitor vapour > temperature to get a better endpoint and you will have an easier time." > > I don't know what this will tell me. What would I be looking for in > terms of vapor temp? > > 3. "I have some excellent references on solvent drying I can mail you > if you want. No soft copy sorry but I might be able to scan them." > > I would appreciate them. I am in the early stages of planning > ethanol ferment/distillation. If the permit is approved, I hope to > start in the coming months. > Thanks again, > Tom > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > *From:* Joe Street <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > *To:* biofuel@sustainablelists.org > <mailto:biofuel@sustainablelists.org> > *Sent:* Friday, April 28, 2006 10:27 AM > *Subject:* Re: [Biofuel] Water in recovered methanol? > > 3A sieves will work but are normally used for getting tiny amounts > of water out of solvents to bring them into the low ppm range. > They will work of course but you might saturate them and have to > do a second stage. There is a significant energy input into > regenerating the seives as well. You have to bake them at well > over 100 degrees C more like 200, but you can get by with lower > temps if you bake them out with vacuum. Try putting a thermometer > in your condenser and monitor vapour temperature to get a better > endpoint and you will have an easier time. You have answered some > of my own questions. I have recovered some methanol but not tried > to use it yet. Sounds like if straight distillation is carefully > done the methanol is dry enough to use without further drying. > Great news and thanks for the post! :) > > I have some excellent references on solvent drying I can mail you > if you want. No soft copy sorry but I might be able to scan them. > > Joe > > Thomas Kelly wrote: > > > > Good day to all, > After splitting the glycerine coproduct from roughly 1200L > of processed WVO, I distilled approximately 100L of the > glycerine/methanol component. > The first drops of methanol began to fall from the condenser > at 145F. As the temp rose to 150F there was a steady flow of > clear liquid from the condenser. Throughout the day I turned the > heat off when the flow was steady and back on when it slowed. > I filled a 4.5 gal (17.7L) cubie with clear liquid and > started a second one. At this point the temp was over 160F. I let > the still run up to 200F. At this point the second cubie had 4 > gallons of clear liquid (and it was now 1AM) giving a total of > 8.5 gal. I was thrilled with the result (and tired). I used the > first 4.5 gal (17.7L) to run one batch, and while that was > settling ran a second batch using the second 4 gal of recovered > methanol. > The first batch washed OK, but was a little slow to > separate. It failed the methanol quality test. > The second batch did not even pass the wash test. > I have been making consistenly high quality BD for several > months ... thank you JtF and list members. I don't think I made > mistakes in measurement or titration. > My question: > As my distillation temps rose towards 200F (93C) could I have > been including water in my distillate? (The methanol recovered at > lower temps performed better than the methanol recovered at > higher temps.) If so, can I use Zeolite "molecular sieves" in the > future to remove it? > > Thanks, > Tom > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 > messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 > messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 > messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.385 / Virus Database: 268.4.4/319 - Release Date: 4/19/2006 > > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 > messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 > messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 > messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > > > -- Thanks, PC He's the kind of a guy who lights up a room just by flicking a switch We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything. - Thomas A Edison _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
