Hello Kurt Did you manage to get past this little hurdle in your previous message?
>Right, mixed up batch one last night. Unfortunately it was pretty >improvised; One I need to get a better scale (This one only measures >down to the nearest two grams, how screwy is that?), and two I need >to get a dryer place to work. Did you see this? http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_vehicle.html#whatdo What should you do if your fuel doesn't pass the wash-test? Best wishes Keith >Okay, so earlier this week I tried my first batch. Didn't go so hot, >it was still a little cloudy after I was done. > >Emulsed like crap when I tried to wash it, to the point of a full >50% of the test wash ending up a crappy mayonnaise consistency. To >date, after 36+ hours of settling, I barely have 100mL of clear >upper level separated out of a 300mL test wash. > >Okay, so I figured I screwed up along the line somewhere. I had some >doubts as to the unused status of the oil, so I looked up the >directions and reprocessed a liter of it in a blender. > >I mixed up a large enough batch of the 10% methanol blend suggested >for reprocessing for my little scale to be accurate (It only >measures in 2g increments. Must find a better scale!) and I did it >inside where the humidity was only around 60% (As opposed to >exterior humidity of around 90%+) and quickly, only taking a bare >45sec to a minute from the time I opened the cannister to the time >NaOH hit the methanol in the blender bowl. It mixed rather nicely, >and I pulsed it's mixing off and on to keep the blender cool during >the fifteen minutes it took me to be confident everything had fully >dissolved. It ended up a very <i>slightly</i> cloudy mixture, but >nothing settled into the bottom over the next hour. > >During the course of that hour I set up the other stuff, measuring >out a liter of my initial product, putting it in a second blender >(Just bought it, cheap $14 one), getting that all set up; it was >still slightly cloudy when I put it in the blender. During this same >time I also measured out 500mL of just-purchased canola oil, >intending to process a real minibatch after I reprocessed some of my >initial product. > >Added a very carefully measured amount of my methoxide, 100mL, to >the reprocessing candidate in the blender. Snapped the lid on, made >sure everything was secure, and let her go. Twenty minutes of >blenderized thrashing commenced, during which time the whole slew >became a kind of milky yellow-amber color, with a brown tint to it. >Cut the blender off, poured everything inside it out into a glass >jar with a cap. > >Set that aside and went into the house, washed the blender cup >thoroughly, inside and out. I towelled it off, then let it air-dry >for a good five or ten minutes inside the house. Took it back >outside, put it back together, and added my fresh oil to the cup. >Drew out another 50mL of my 10% grade solution, adding another 50mL >of my methanol source to bring it up to the requisite 20% volume. >Since the grams of lye per liter were never changed, just the volume >of methanol, I reasoned that doing this was safe and would work >since I was just bringing the lye concentration down to normal by >diluting the solution with more methanol. > >Added this to the batch of fresh oil, secured the cap, turned the >blender on and walked inside to wash my hands again and get >something to drink. Ten minutes later I walked back out, and the >blender was utterly empty. Bottom end failure on my cheap blender; >apparently I hadn't let the motor cool long enough, so the heat ran >up the shaft and when combined with the heat of mixing it I melted >the plastic. Bummer. So I don't have that as a comparison. > >Anyway, five hours after reprocessing the first-run product, I drew >out another 100mL and added 100mL of hot (120~F) water. Gently >swirled it at first, but that wasn't even mixing water and product >so I went to a slightly more vigorous shaking. > >And it did the same thing. Emulsed like crap. I have a 200mL jar of >two-tone mayonnaise. The upper layer is tinged yellow-brown, the >bottom layer is pure white. > >Ummm, help? > >-K _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
