Hi Dan >Keith Addison said: > >Sorry it's taken me so long to reply, hollidays and finishing up a >down draft gasifier to burn waste wood have taken a lot of time. The >gasifier is working nicely, I now need to build the heat exchanger. > > > >If you accidently measure out an extra .1 gram NaOH in each batch it > > >represents it represents 28.5% too much in the 1 liter batch but only 1.4% > > >too much in the 20 liter batch. > > > > That's wrong Dan. This is virgin oil, so it should be: > >I'll have to check my numbers.
You just dropped a decimal place. Yes, check the quantities you used in your test batches, but I'd guess you just got it wrong in the calculation for your post, not for making the test batches (or it wouldn't have worked at all). You'd said: >1 liter oil requires 0.2 liters of Methanol and .35 grams NaOH That's only one-tenth the required amount of NaOH, it should be 3.5 grams. You say the opposite thing about the iffy test batch below: "I think I had too much NaOH in it..." > > It's worth stating. Mark's right though, eh? - it doesn't lend itself > > to armchair theorising. Why we always advise people to start at the > > beginning instead of rushing straight at the two-stage processes or > > designing a full-scale processor before they've made their first > > batch. One erstwhile hopeful complained most bitterly to me because > >There are two seperate issues here. Practical experience using your >tools and familiarity with the process is one. The other is >understanding the reaction you are attempting. There is no substitute >for practical, hands on experience, but there is also no substitute >for theory either. That's quite right. There's also a rational sequence to it though. Your theorizing is likely to be much more focused and productive if you first gain the basic practical hands-on experience. As with your baking example below, you'd want to be competent at the basic recipes and techniques before moving on to new recipes and new, untried ground, which will need both theory and practical competence. If you can't break an egg without breaking the yolk and getting bits of shell in it, or if you've never tried breaking an egg, better learn how first. Hence our "Where do I start?" section - start with a small test batch of virgin oil, etc, it's a logical progression, easy to follow, with the horse at the right end of the cart. >With out understanding the theory you are just following the recipe. >That works, most of the time, as long as the recipe is for the right >thing. If you are trying to come up with a new recipe you need to >understand the theory. When you start trying out your new recipe you >need to have good lab skills and practices. > >It's much like baking, in that all the experience in the world, at >following somebody elses recipe, will only go so far toward creating >your own recipe. Conversely, without that experience you're not going to know whether the existing recipes are adequate for your purposes or if you need to develop a new one of your own. >It may give you a strong intuitive feel for the >product, but it will not be as helpful as understanding the theory and >chemistry. And for any of you that say there's no chemistry in baking, >you need to make Sweedish Lemon Angels, >http://www.recipesource.com/baked-goods/desserts/cookies/01/rec0162.html :-) There's a LOT of chemistry in baking! Even short of playing with it. > > Dan, what quite is happening to the test batch you made that isn't > > biodiesel? Why not try rescuing it? > >I think I had too much NaOH in it, it was cloudy and not seperating. I >need to go back and double check my figures after you pointed out my >error in the example I gave above for large batches vs. small batches. I >know I wasn't measuring as accurately as I'd like to have. The scale >I'm using isn't realy up to the task and needs to be replaced before I >make any further efforts. As for rescuing it, it's only 1.4 liters, and >it's looking realy cool as I've left it to sit and seperate over the last >few weeks. I have water in there too and so I have a very interesting mix >of glycerin, soap biodiesel and sodium catylist. My second small batch >worked out nicely, even with the postage scale, but as I said, I'll be >getting a more accurate scale before I try any further test batches. Worth it, IMO. Best wishes Keith >Cheers, >Dan >-- >Jack of all trades, master of none. >Fiber Artist - Genealogist - Kilt Maker - Linux Geek - Piper - Woodworker >http://www.xmission.com/~redbeard Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=biofuel Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
