Keith and all, Washing. Have reduced Glacial acetic acid level to 1/2 ml per Litre of BD. Bubble wash working well. BD as produced pH 6 ( Filtered WCSO 6g/L NaOH, 15% Methanol) Equal volumes of wash water and BD. Three washes approx 15 min, 1 litre of BD washed at a time in tall cylindrical separating "funnel". (great for draining off the wash water). First wash water at end of wash pH 3.5, second wash water, pH 3.5, third wash water at finish 7.0. First and second washes see no foaming at surface but oil globules persist right down to the level of air stone. Third wash sees the globules extending no lower than 2/3 of total volume. Washed product has pH of 5. When dried and filtered the pH is still 5.
Methanol Content Trialed two batches from filtered WCSO varying methanol content. Batch 1/. 6g/Litre NaOH, 10% methanol gave no glycerol separation and resulted in a thick gelatinous mass. My "normal" mix of 6g/Litre, 15% methanol gives clear BD above an indistinct gelatinous deposit with about 90% yield of BD. Batch 2/. 6g/Litre NaOH, 20% methanol. Great result good glycerine separation just like I was getting using 3.5g/Litre NaOH, 15% methanol. Clear BD and a dark brown mobile layer of glycerine. Looks like I have been a bit stingy with the methanol. The extra 5% above the 15% would appear to give better yield of BD with much easier separation. The glycerol looks usable insteady of a murky mess. Revisited the literature downloaded from journey to forever website and may up rate to 25% and use two stages as Aleks suggests. With a clean glycerine drop recovery of methanol could tip the ballance in favour of high methanol usage. KFC oil/fat. Just for variety tried making some BD from "the colonel's best". The solid oil/fat? they cook the chips in. Apparently the chip cooking and chicken cooking are separated. First time I have used "solid" feedstock. Results look good so far and that was with 6g/L,15%. Utilisation. Another 4L into the Toyota today. Could have been the cold weather this morning but it felt like it was going better than ever. Perhaps the moderate level of BD used has started to clean out pump and injectors. No glug in disposable fuel filter yet. Projects. On his site Aleks suggests 25% methanol and two stage processing removes the harmful components in feed stock. Will try this and compare yield, SG, viscosity with previous batches. Could produce a fuel with better calorific value as well. Regards Paul. Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
