Hi James Everybody loves Mark's biodiesel class. Thanks a lot for the report.
There are a bunch of pics from a previous class here: http://www.veggieavenger.com/news/news.shtml Veggie Avenger News / log Mark knows you did photos, right? I'd like to do something with her on her class, so would she, but we haven't got that far yet. I guess it's pictures she'll be short of when it comes to it. Regards Keith >Hola Biofuelers, > >Today was the first day of a four part Biodiesel class at the Ecology >center in Berkley. There was about twenty four people atending with Girl >Mark teaching, and her trustworthy assistant 'Methman' (ie. Jeff) in tow. >Below is a blow by blow of the first day. BTW, also got some pictures >that if Keith would like to post or have a page dedicated to the class, >just let me know. Didn't get a chance to use my Girlfriends Digital so >these will have to be processed in the coming weeks. Might just post them >on OFOTO with a little narration. > >Regards, > > >James Slayden > >9:30am - lost my way in to the location and ended up almost in Concord, > Ca. Had to turn around on the 980 freeway and rely on some > reverse direction intuition. > >9:45am - Arrived at the Ecology Center in Berkley and a small group for > the class started forming. Interesting I thought it would be > more packed, but I think that people are more interested in the > finished product than actually creating Biodiesel. > >10am - Girl Mark was running late so I spent some time looking at all > the sustainable information available at the Ecology Center. If > your ever in Berkley definitely stop by the center just for all > the other goodies! > >10:15ish - Girl Mark shows up!! We get to helping unload and distribute > her BD 'zine' and gear. We introduce ourselves and explain why > we are taking the class. Class size is around 24. The price > per class was great!! $15 - $60 sliding scale, almost a like a > free will donation. You pay either at each class or for the > whole series, very Berkley. =) > >10:**am - Girl Mark starts in on the lecture portion of with some > history of diesel, biodiesel, and some other good factiods. She > makes a batch of blender BD with 'Methman' doing the dirty work. > Girl Mark drills into us the safety precautions that should be > taken. This will not be the first time this will be said. ;-) > >12:30pm - Lunch!! Not that your interested, but I had a tofu >scramble at > a little cafe down the steet with some fellow class members. I > find out that what seems to be the concensus - that this the > first time for most of us. > >1:15pm - Girl Mark dives right into titration!! Guess she figured we > need to get the difficult stuff out of the way first. We split > up into 4 groups and started practicing titration. It looked so > easy when Girl Mark did it!!?? I now know how important > measuring is and how easily it can be screwed up. Most of the > members of our group titrate and come up with a consistant > 1.75ml. The groups compare the numbers and we head out to the > parking lot to do a biger batch. > >??:??pm - Time flys when your having fun. We were going to >do a methoxide > batch, then Jeff thought he had some KOH and wanted to try that, > so the blender batch of methoxide was scrapped and was made into > another blender BD batch. Then Jeff found out that he forgot > the KOH and we went back the the original plan. Some of the > class members volunteered to be 'Methman' for some of the > methoxide mixing which was kewl. I was a little scared of the > chemicals so I passed on the opportunity (my own personal > deamon). I will go for it next time though!! Need to get over > that ..... > >3:15pm Class was suppose to be over, but since we started late, and > lots of questions put us over the time. I stayed to see the > larger batch being mixed in small scale processor. Half the > class had left (pity), so it was a chance to get up and close > with the processing. BTW, Girl Mark brought two batch style, > mixer processors made out of very convient and inexpensive > materials (metal drums) easily found/made. Not being that > machanically inclined, it's not very intimidating to see how > simple the processor can be made. We talked a little bit about > the processors and will go further into it later in the class. > >It was a great first day and I think we all got a great start in feeling >comfortable with the process, titration, and working with the chemicals. >It was a big suprise to most of us that it really is a simple process and >quite amazing that we can make our own fuel. > >More to follow in the coming weeks (and pics). Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/ 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/
