Hi all Well I am finally ready to try a mini test batch, yipee! This is an excerpt from my morning newsletter. The names have been changed to protect the innocent, hehe. As I was leaving work I remembered that it was Thursday and if I was to try my first batch of biodiesel this weekend I needed to get some lye from the hardware store before it closed. They didn't carry Red Devil Lye, the preferred product, but they did have several bottles of caustic soda crystals under the brand name of Roto. I read the ingredients several times and happily paid the clerk the $3.99 and out the door I went. Lye without methanol would be like clapping with one hand I am told by the biodieselers. Where was I going to get methanol? On down the street to the auto parts store with renewed confidence I went. I had found what I hoped was a suitable substitute for the first ingredient while the store was shutting off the overhead lights. Into the parts store and a bee-line for the liquids. On the shelf where the fuel line de-icers were was several bottles of Heet. Checking the ingredients I spied the words, "Contains methyl alcohol." This is the stuff, methanol. I spent a whopping $2.00 more (2 little bottles) and off I went with everything I need to begin my first mini test batch of biodiesel.
So now I hear from Hugh in Los Lunas, by Albuquerque that he has a 55 gallon drum and pump for mineral oil. Yes, yes Hugh this is perfect, please save it for me. Bring it next time you come up this way. Also, Eric said he has a fairly decent chemistry setup left over from a friend's pipe dream project which never saw the light of day. Beakers and heaters and things I don't recall the names of. Please, please pretty please folks do save anything you have for lab work. Let me get these mini-test batches under my belt and I will begin to work out just what my biodiesel lab will need to get this process geared up. Another friend Rand has offered help as well. I thank you all. This newsletter is so very rewarding. I do a bunch of research while I keep this chronicle posted to you all and we come together with the stuff to make it all come about. Oh yeah, I took the time to go eat lunch yesterday afternoon at my favorite restaurant, Little Moon (Chinese American buffet). As I was paying the bill I saw the owner behind the counter. I introduced myself and asked what they did with their WVO (waste veggie oil)? He said his name was Tony and he didn't do anything with the used fryer oil and he definitely did not throw it in the dumpster. Ok I said we might be able to help each other out. How much WVO does the restaurant produce in a week? He said he just got rid of all that he had (not on the parking lot) but if I was to come back in one week, he should have five, five gallon containers full. Holy Teriyaki Batman! Did I just hit the jackpot? No wonder their food is so tasty, five gallons of grease per day? Far be it for me to question the goose with the golden eggs. If this pans out like the owner of this restaurant suggests, I have a source for oil that will be enough for me to create twenty gallons per week of fuel for my diesel car! Only the cost of labor, energy to heat the processor drums and the methanol. This latter is going to be the tough one to source out. Race tracks sell methanol but we don't have a race track. I understand that the gulf coast area is where to get methanol from. I have heard it sells for less than two dollars per gallon in Louisiana. It might cost the home brew biodiesel producer $5.00 to $7.00 per gallon if the source wants to price gouge. How much methanol will I need? Near as I can figure, 120ml of methanol to 1-liter of WVO. Some of the methanol is recoverable. By the way, many of you have heard that biodiesel can harm your engine. Methanol mixed with lye makes sodium methoxide, very caustic stuff. You don't want to be putting any of that in your gas tank. If you have been following my biodiesel process, you will see that several wash cycles are used. Litmus paper is employed to make certain the ph of the biodiesel is neutral before we put it in the tank. So there it is. I am stoked and more than ready to get on with it. Brian Rodgers _______________________________________________ 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/
