Newbie to Bio-diesel, and I have some questions.

[Andertusa]

Another interesting question, ....maybe.

Is it possible to process WVO into shelf-stable form without fear of rancidity or water contamination?

 

[mohavewolfpup]

I wonder wolf, I wonder.....

about what?

 

[Andertusa]

About the methanol thing wolf, the methanol.

 

[G. Mann]

I have more than a little experience in the biodiesel world. In 2007 I designed, built, and certified the largest biodiesel plant [at that time] in USA.. Plant design capacity was 20,000,000 gallons per month.

Here is where I would suggest you start your education. These folks will steer you in the right direction. To do it right is is exact chemistry. To get it right you need to know what you are doing and why you are doing it.. It can hurt you, some of the chemicals you deal with are very explosive and burn with no visible flame. [methanol] .. Caustic Soda [lye] will burn any tissue it comes into contact with.. such as your lungs or eyes.. If you get a lung burn.. there is no cure.. so use care.

http://www.biodiesel.org/

This is only a starting point.. but a good one.. Good luck in your biodiesel adventures.

 

[Brad S.]

I would figure out how much wvo you'll need, meaning how far are you gonna drive daily, weekly, etc.
Then figure how much fuel you'll need mpg, etc, that will tell you how big your "setup" needs to be AND how much wvo you need to collect.
I bought a book years ago called "From the fryer to the fuel tank", (I think) goes through the "how" of making bio-diesel.
I think you can burn wvo without processing it, but the extra fat could cause some problems if fuel temps are too cold.
The processing is a lot of work IMO, like a lot of the guys have stated.
Don't know if they would let you in to look around but there is a bio-diesel plant at Brewster MN. http://www.mnsoy.com/ Think this is it.
Basically soybeans to soyoil to bio-diesel, they make most of the bio-diesel for the state of MN.
If your gonna burn wvo during cold times might be a good idea to have a 2 tank system, meaning start on regular diesel then once engine temps come up switch to your "heated" wvo tank.
Main thing keep reading, check out some sites that are devoted to wvo and processing, take note of the guys that live in a similar cold climate and read the experiences..
Welcome aboard.

 

[Andertusa]

I would figure out how much wvo you'll need, meaning how far are you gonna drive daily, weekly, etc.
Then figure how much fuel you'll need mpg, etc, that will tell you how big your "setup" needs to be AND how much wvo you need to collect.
I bought a book years ago called "From the fryer to the fuel tank", (I think) goes through the "how" of making bio-diesel.
I think you can burn wvo without processing it, but the extra fat could cause some problems if fuel temps are too cold.
The processing is a lot of work IMO, like a lot of the guys have stated.
Don't know if they would let you in to look around but there is a bio-diesel plant at Brewster MN. http://www.mnsoy.com/ Think this is it.
Basically soybeans to soyoil to bio-diesel, they make most of the bio-diesel for the state of MN.
If your gonna burn wvo during cold times might be a good idea to have a 2 tank system, meaning start on regular diesel then once engine temps come up switch to your "heated" wvo tank.
Main thing keep reading, check out some sites that are devoted to wvo and processing, take note of the guys that live in a similar cold climate and read the experiences..
Welcome aboard.

Like I told Wolf, not so much interested in using it for running my rig on, but running my oil furnace on, and I've heard that after it's converted to Bio, it's more stable than in it's WVO form, so I'm interested in that. Like I said to Wolf, even if I have-to pay $1.00-1.50 a gallon, it's still WAY cheaper than having 'them' bring the regular F-O/blend out and fill my barrel.

 

[yARIC008]

I've read that if you apparently 'wash' it thoroughly enough, that you could reuse you catalyst( though it loses efficacy).

Reusing the catalyst would be extremely difficult and you'd spend WAY too much money trying to recapture it to do anything useful with. If you wanted to cut down your catalyst use, and buy a super expensive reactor in the process, you'd want to use an ultrasonicator. That is really the only way to lower/eliminate catalyst usage. However, ultrasonicators are pricey, and you'd need to do some expensive modifications to it to make it work well.

Instead of washing it with water, you can use dry washing techniques. Basically you run the biodiesel through an ion exchange media that will grab onto the catalyst. Basically the same setup as a water softener. That it way large biodiesel factories do it. Using water would just be too time consuming and too inconsistent on a large scale.

You can recapture excess methanol and reuse it to process more biodiesel. When you recapture it though, it's usually only about 70% pure. Would have to keep distilling it to get it more pure again. If you mix it back with pure though, you'll end up with acceptable purity for a biodiesel reaction.

One of the things you'd need to deal with is the glycerol that is produced. This would need to be disposed of in some fashion. You can burn it but I believe it creates a toxic gas. If you boil the methanol out of it, you can use it as a nice soap I hear.