Hello Mark > I looked up a few of those commercial oil burners for use with WVO. >Sounds pretty interesting, though pricey... something to try and find >secondhand, maybe? > >Then I got an email from a farmer nearby, someone who grows oil crops, >asking about biodiesel production for on-farm use, and about ways to reduce >waste in the process, all the usual questions people have. We were talking >about 'glycerine' and ways to deal with it besides disposal... > >Does anyone on this list have experience burning their glycerine for shop >heat or process heat, using some kind of waste oil burner, either one of >these commercial units or one of the homebuilt ones off of Journeytoforever?
I think Chuck Ranum's doing that: http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_processor4.html Biodiesel processors I asked Michael Allen something about this recently: >>Would 11% glyc plus the FFAs be enough to power the process? > >Glycerol has a higher heating value of 13.6 kJ/kg (if my sums are >correct) 100 litres of palm-oil weighs in at 91.06 kg. It produces >about 8.55 kg of glycerol so we will get less than 13.6 x 8.55 kJ >to heat palm oil (= 116.28 kJ). Now that 91.06 kg of palm oil has >an estimated specific heat of about 2 kJ/kg K. So we can use the >glycerol *at best* to heat the palm oil through 116.28/(91.06 x 2) >= 0.6K ! So if you want to get the palm oil to 60C, it had better >be 59.5C when you start. This "tram-ticket calculation" ignored FFA >and also heat losses from the equipment. If the full heat of >combustion of glycerol were available, you might get a 5 degree C >rise. :-( >I know that burning glycerine can produce some toxic gases if not done >properly. Mainly acrolein. >Biodieselers have occasionally talked about burning the >alcohol/glycerin/FFA/catalyst mix in a traditional fuel oil furnace >as a method of disposal. This would probably create an "inadequate" >combustion scenario and is not recommended. That does not mean that >it couldn't be done in an oxygen rich environment, such as a furnace >specifically designed for waste motor oils. But even that would have >to be tested. Acrolein boils at 53C (127F), so any acrolein actually in the glyc will be long gone if you removed the excess methanol. Acrolein forms when glycerine decomposes. Glycerine (pure) boils at 290¼C. The glyc-ffa-catalyst mixture will boil at a lower temp than that. http://ptcl.chem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/AC/acrolein.html Safety data for acrolein http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/a1538.htm Acrolein However: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/message/13799 >- There is inadequate evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of acrolein. >- There is inadequate evidence in experimental animals for the carcinogenicity of acrolein. >- Acrolein is not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans (Group 3). (International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization) Carconigenic or not, it's certainly toxic. >What is 'properly' in this case? some particular temperature, >some particular combustion environment? how does one know, using a >Babington or a waste oil burner to burn glycerine byproduct, that it is >safe to do so? It strikes me that people burning SVO or WVO in waste oil heaters or whatever don't seem to share this concern, which only comes up when it's a question of burning the glycerine. But the glycerine comes from the VO after all, if at a lower concentration, so shouldn't they have the same concern? I don't want to minimise safety concerns, but maybe we make too much of it. A Babington burner should surely be hot enough, an MEN heater should be too, but anyway the exhaust goes outside - not proposing to pollute the outside, it probably wouldn't be any more than is released burning SVO in a car (some). >Also I do the 'ffa recovery' process sometimes- purifying 'glycerine' with >an acid to break down the soaps into salt and ffa, and producing a cleaner >glycerine for degreaser use. Like everyone I know whose tried this, I've >got a bit of ffa byproduct sitting around in my 'odd chemicals' collection >now (I believe Ken Provost experimented with using that same ffa in >soapmaking?). I've made other stuff out of it (release agent/Dubbin, for instance - good!), but haven't got round to making soap yet, coming next. I also don't have anything ideal for burning it in (also coming next), but it burnt about the same as SVO in a wick lamp - in other words it went out quite soon, but burnt okay up to then. The wick's the problem, not the burning. No glyc fumes. I tried to get the vegoil folks to experiment with it as a fuel, but the whole discussion got side-tracked (Paddy's weird doubts that it is FFA). I'll do that myself soon as I get the chance. I want to use WVO and glyc/ffa/catalyst and separated ffa for heating and process heat in the coming months, much appreciate any further input on this issue. Best Keith >Todd Swearingen said something once about ffa being a potential fuel source >for a Babington Burner, and has said somewhere that he thinks it could be a >fuel in other situations. Anyone experimented with this, or any of you >engineers out there have any ideas on how well it'll combust and under what >conditions? (I don't have anything to try burning it in at the moment). > >Thanks, >Mark > > > > > >Have you considered the use of off-the-shelf waste oil burners being used > >in garages? These are using waste engine crankcase oil with the smaller > >units putting out 145KBTUs. Most garages like restaurants have to pay > >others to take away the waste oil. Most of the manufacturers will not > >knowingly sell these for residential use most likely due to liability > >threats while they will as space heaters for garages, workshops, and > >manufacturing plants full of working people. This is another source of > >inexpensive fuel AND the mechanisms to safely convert that fuel to heat. I > >suspect any room-temperature WVO may be equally useable as fuel for these > >shop furnances. Maybe the local 10-minute oil change place would be > >willing to donate your fuel supply? 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/
