Hello David >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?
Reactant usually means the alcohol, methanol, which is usually 20% of the volume of oil being processed. For the ratio of end-product biodiesel volume to feedstock volume, ie the jatropha oil, the production rate is or should be 100%: 1,000 litres of oil > 1,000 litres of biodiesel. As to the size of the mixer, how long is a piece of string? I didn't really want to get into this (I don't work for such projects), and anyway the question didn't make sense to me. However, I mentioned a 1,000-litre processor, that would be a batch processor. I wouldn't want to do it, but using the basic single-stage base process, the processor should be able to produce one batch in little more than an hour, say 7-8 batches per working day, 7-8,000 litres a day. (An oil pre-heating tank would help.) The product could all go into multiple settling tanks (say 8, or use bigger tanks), for separation of the biodiesel from the settled by-product cocktail the next day, freeing the tanks for the next batches; again, say 8 washing tanks could get the washing process done in another day if stir washing is used, though that means the fuel has to be made properly or it will emulsify, see: <http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_bubblewash.html> Multiple tanks take a bit of space, maybe they haven't got the space or the labour or whatever, everyone's situation is different, so people use different schemes. Anything from 8 batches a day to 1 batch a day to a batch every five days is possible, with the same processor. To calculate your ratio you'd have to find out more about how they intend to operate (if they know). People often want to "speed up" the process to make it "more efficient", which usually means taking shortcuts with the process itself or with stuff like centrifuges or so-called dry-washing and so on, unnecessary extras that don't work very well (not as well as gravity and water, respectively). But it's not really more efficiency they want, it's more production. Rather than messing with the process, get a bigger processor, or a second processor running in parallel (and double the number of settling and washing tanks). >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. Why thankyou sir. :-) >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/.) Aarghh!!! Broken links! Why do they do it?? :-( Thankyou David, I'll fix it. > >> 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. Yes please. >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.) He's a bit shrill but I wouldn't say he's wrong. He could be right about this too: "They are not much interested in Karanj [Pongamia] because there are no chances of purchase the plants. In many states where Jatropha is under promotion the corruption in purchasing of Jatropha is in peak. Most of the planners have to earn from Jatropha planting material business. Very few are thinking of using the oil as biodiesel. They have no worry about the environment. After earning from this business they will forget the Jatropha..." Jatropha seeds are going for $50 per thousand. Jatropha shmatropha. Did you try this? <http://www.fact-fuels.org/en/FACT_Knowledge_Centre/FACT_Publications?session=cl4scdo0dk1e8c4ql2hpeev1s1> FACT Publications The following research has been done and published by FACT. To download an article please click on the title. Thesis: The electricity system for a rural village in Mali Combined Use of Biogas and Jatropha Oil in a Diesel engine Jatropha Presses - overview FACT Jatropha network Position Paper on Jatropha curcas L. Claims and Facts on Jatropha curcas L. Jatropha handbook Supposed carcinogenity of Jatropha curcas L. Jatropha oil quality related to use in diesel engines and refining methods Screw Pressing of Jatropha Suitability of Solvent Extraction for Jatropha curcas Anaerobic Digestion of Jatropha Press Cake Findings of the working sessions /FACT seminar A Two Products Philosophy Poverty alleviation and the Energy Supply Duurzame Energie en Ontwikkelingslanden (dutch) JEP: Jatropha curcas evaluation and propagation programme Also: Physic nut -- Jatropha curcas L. Promoting the conservation and use of underutilized and neglected crops (772 kb pdf) <http://www.bioversityinternational.org/fileadmin/bioversity/publications/pdfs/161.pdf> (How about some underutilization and neglect of over-promoted crops?) HTH - best Keith >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) _______________________________________________ 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/
