Keith, > >Where can I find a quick transform between gpd/lpd of >biodiesel and mixer > >volume, for batch-process mixers?
If I understand correctly, it will take perhaps 3 days to produce the biodiesel in the mixer, after which one could (and in a plant this size, would probably) pump the reactant elsewhere to undertake other processes using other equipment: settling, separation, washing, etc. If it takes a day to clean, prepare and load the mixer, and we add a half day to give some slack for... whatever, then the amount of reactant one can process in a year would have to be about 80 times the volume of the mixer. Thus with some idea of the ratio of end-product biodiesel volume to reactant volume, I would be able to estimate the size of the mixer itself. What is that ratio? Keith Addison wrote: >> The project information I have says that they intend to use "a suitable >> packed column, condenser, and receiver... to recover excess amount of >> Methanol in the system." > These are the options: > Reclaiming excess methanol > <http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make2.html#methreclaim> > As I grow more familiar with the site, I grow more amazed and grateful. Fabulous resource. By the way, on the page http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html, a link to Boston University's site is given for the MSDS for methanol (http://www.bu.edu/es/labsafety/ESMSDSs/MSMethanol.html). It's not there, even given that a search of the site using the tools thereon provided demonstrates that it's supposed to be there. In fact, it looks like, for the moment or permanently, /all/ MSDS information (http://www.bu.edu/es/labsafety/ESMSDSs/ESMSDS.html), even as linked from the lab safety page itself, has disappeared. (A pretty good MSDS for methanol is found at http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/M2015.htm, if the BU site does not resolve its problems soon, and a generic resource for MSDS information is at http://www2.hazard.com/msds/.) >> One can make biogas from methanol, and it therefore seems possible to me >> based on what little I know about its contents that the whole unseparated >> glycerol fraction of the trans-esterified result could likely be put in the >> digester. >> > > List members have surmised that, but not confirmed it. I'd be interested to > know the results. > I'm fuzzy as yet on when we will get a chance to run proof-of-concept tests, but if/when, I'll be in touch. Finally, I mentioned interplanting or intercropping options with Jatropha. I have found some resources regarding this: http://www.jatrophabiodiesel.org/intercropping.php?_divid=menu3 http://www.bioruta.com/JATROPHA/Documentos/Agrotechnology%20of%20Jatropha.pdf The basic story, as far as I yet have found out, appears to be that young Jatropha plants (up to 3 years) need a lot of sunlight to grow, so any other crop interplanted while the Jatropha plants are small, should not shade them. Other than that, I have not found any mention of restrictions, i.e. plants that will not grow when interplanted with Jatropha, or which suppress the growth of Jatropha. I have seen mention of corn, tomatoes, rice, sesame, red peppers, legumes and grasses in general, and many other plants which, it is suggested on various sites, can be used in co-plantings. I suspect that there must be allelopathic interactions between some of these plants and Jatropha, but as yet I have not found careful reports of research which bear on the question. Some work has apparently been done by Pankaj Oudhia (http://www.pankajoudhia.com/resume_pankaj.htm), who appears to have a real aversion to Jatropha. (Based on what he says about himself, I'm not sure I would entirely trust his evaluation as dispassionate.) d. -- David William House "The Complete Biogas Handbook" |www.completebiogas.com| "Make no search for water. But find thirst, And water from the very ground will burst." (Rumi, a Persian mystic poet, quoted in /Delight of Hearts/, p. 77) -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: /pipermail/attachments/20090103/a2cf70f5/attachment.html _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainablelorgbiofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (70,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
