Three Dead Flies - My Biodiesel Notes

Notes

I created this page to chronicle the things that have come up since switching to biodiesel. These will likely be little things that I notice as I go along or juicy tidbits of information that may help someone avoid a problem I experienced. I hope you find it helpful.

11/2006
02/2007
05/2007
06/2007
07/2007
07/2007
08/2007

09/2007
10/2007
11/2007
03/2008
04/2008
11/2010

11/2006	I read a lot about making biodiesel on the internet. I ran onto a site that was talking about some stuff called Magnesol. They said it was THE solution to the removal of debris, water, glycerol, etc. from processed oil.
	I tried using Magnesol one time and it failed so badly, I bagged up the rest of the Magnesol I had left and put it on the shelf.
	Although it might be a good commercial solution, it was a HUGE pain for me! The Magnesol settled to the bottom of my washing tank leaving a white layer of crud that was difficult to wash out. It clogged several of my expensive filters -- even though I ran the whole batch through a new 50-micron sock filter and then a 1-micron sock filter.
	It might be a great solution for someone but for me, it just didn't work out. Washing my fuel with water works perfectly and I can easily keep up with my demand so I'm sticking to water washing.

02/2007	If you've read this site, you already know I set up my biodiesel processing operation in a spare horse stall in my barn. Because it is a stall, it was not weather proof when I first started. The wind could blow through the cracks in the walls, it was drafty and cold and there was no way to prevent it, the weather, from readily coming in. During the winter months, I had a lot of trouble processing biodiesel due to the cold -- and it only got down to 17 degrees one time in January 2007. Much harsher winters are common in the midwest and northern states so I'm not complaining, I'm just saying it was difficult when compared to spring and summer months here (Seattle, WA area).
	To make the processing easier, I covered the ceiling and walls of my horse stall with 1/2" foil-faced hard foam insulation. I found two used double-paned vinyl windows on Craig's List (online: www.craigslist.org) and installed them on walls opposite each other for good cross ventilation when I need it. I found a used metal insulated commercial door and framed that in for access. I taped all the joints between the insulation.
	The last thing I added was a used oil-filled radiant heater (again, from Craig's List online) for $5. It gives off a soft, even heat that isn't harsh and, once it gets the room up to temperature, it easily holds it there; nice a warm! Now I can process my biodiesel any month of the year. Sealing out the weather was one of the best things I have done for my biodiesel operation.

05/2007	For the last year (since July 2006) I have been making biodiesel as I've needed it. When I need another tank-full, I go out to my biodiesel room and a cook up a batch. I generally make 40-gallon batches (150 liters) and that will either fill up my pickup's dual tanks or it will fill one of my pickup's dual tanks and the rest will fill up my Mercedes. The tractor sips fuel so slowly, I rarely have to fill it up.
	After using biodiesel for almost a year, my usage has leveled off and I have accumulated more raw oil (un-processed bio-fuel) than I need. So I have just acquired three additional white poly barrels in which I intend to store surplus biodiesel--165 gallons worth. It is my plan to have surplus fuel ready to go when the winter months come again and processing biodiesel is more difficult. The surplus should carry me though the cold months when I would rather not brew biodiesel.
	So I am now processing oil as I get it, putting the finished biodiesel into the storage tanks, and seeing if I can get over 100 gallons ahead of my needs. I'll see how it goes.

06/2007	I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out a way to keep my biodiesel room cleaner. The drips and spills have made a real mess out of the floor. I have used kitty litter and saw dust to soak up the spills but the concrete floor still soaks up a lot of oil and it gets sticky. I use a floor scraper to dig the soaked kitty litter and saw dust off the floor but that's a pain. I use old pans to catch drips from the outlet pipes from my barrels and that helps a lot but I have been searching for a better way to keep the room clean.
	I have found that keeping pans under the drip sources is one of the best things I can do to prevent oil from reaching the floor. I know that seems obvious but the real point is to have ENOUGH pans to catch drips and spills from wherever they occur rather than moving them from this drip to that drip and back again.
	I bought a couple of funnels to help my accuracy when transferring fuel from one place to another. Again, this may seem simple but a good funnel is a very handy device in this business.
	I made some hooks out of 3/16" steel rod from which to hang my hoses and tubes and keep them out of the kitty litter. It's nice having everything up off the floor so I can sweep and keep the floor clean.

07/2007

My kids have seen the benefit of biodiesel and are now acquiring Mercedes Benz diesel vehicles (they have just purchased a 1984 300SD and a 1985 300SD, both in fantastic shape, both coincidentally the same exact color: dark red). To care for this increased consumption thereunto, I have just secured a second restaurant's cooking oil. I think this should keep us all in the fuel we need. We shall see if I need yet another...

07/2007	Back in October 2006 my son-in-law, Solomon, and I built a canister filter that uses a sock (bag) filter from McMaster/Carr. It's basically a piece of 4" ABS pipe with some fittings connected to it for plumbing the oil in and out. We tried it a few times but didn't really get the kind of results we wanted and shelved the project.
	Well, this is the third week of July 2007 and I added this big canister filter to my reactor. I had a couple of unrelated plumbing leaks on the reactor and wanted to fix those anyway so I took this opportunity to do the whole job. The biggest challenge was fashioning a bypass system on the canister filter that would allow me to control the amount of pressure exerted on the sock filter inside the canister. The first couple of tries resulted in exploded sock filters (too much pressure). But with some additional plumbing (valves for control), I was able to control the pressure and still achieve the filtering results I was looking for.
	Since I was in the mood to do some plumbing, I decided to create a still through which I could recover some of my Methanol after the reaction was completed. I fashioned a coil of 1/4" soft copper that would fit inside a piece of 2" PVC pipe acting as the water-filled cooling jacket (condenser) for the copper coil. The contraption functions as a condenser and allows me to boil off the unused Methanol and condense it into a bottle for re-use in future batches of biodiesel.
	These two additions (the filter and the still) to my reactor are quite nice because they help me achieve a better product quicker and easier than before while saving me money at the same time.

08/2007	I had some time so I cleaned up the equipment from the floor of my biodiesel processing room and power-washed the floor. It was so crusted with old coagulated oil, dirt, and kitty litter and saw dust. Man! It was in horrible shape. When I finished, I broomed the excess water to the floor drain.
	It's August and therefore it is very sunny and nice out. I opened the windows and the door and it wasn't but a couple of hours and the floor was dry. Wow, what a difference! It looks great! It's not without stain but it is nice and clean and I don't cringe when I have to kneel down now.
	When I decided to try power washing the floor, I thought I might be making a big mistake. I thought I might make such a watery mess, I would surely regret it. But I was wrong! I absolutely LOVE it! In fact, I intend to do this same procedure at least once each year from now on just to keep the floor nice and clean.

09/2007	This month, I thought I would try something that I read about on one of the forums (or, more properly, fora which is the plural form of the word forum). What a mistake!
	I read online that I could forego the washing procedure and simply allow the fuel to settle for a week or so and pull the pure fuel off the top. I'm not disputing that this may be true. However, if you try this idea, I highly recommend doing this in a conical tank (a tank with a cone bottom on it). Why? Well, I'll tell you why. You really need to get that funk and pancake batter out of the bottom of the tank, away from your good fuel and a conical tank will do that job with ease. Here's what happened to me.
	With all the skill and stealth that I possess, I went to pump this pure stuff off the top of the settled fuel and I unknowingly allowed the draw tube to telescope down into the funk at the bottom of the tank. I didn't hear it slide down and I didn't realize it had happened. I flipped the pump on and pumped about a gallon and a half of pure funk into my son-in-law's fuel tank! Oh, my goodness! I couldn't even believe it!
	This little mistake that took about 10 seconds to perform took about 30 hours to remedy. We ended up buying a used tank from a junk yard and replacing the contaminated one. This was the most time-effective and financially feasible remedy.
	While we were at it, he replaced the fuel sender, screen filter, and all hoses. It's going to be fine but what a mistake! I'll never go without washing again -- until something really great comes along to replace that process.

10/2007	One of my biggest problems is separating all the funk, mud, pancake batter, goo from the bottles of oil I collect from the restaurants. I can let these sit for about a week or so and I find they always separate and there is always some quantity of good oil floating on top. But getting that good oil OUT of the bottles is next to impossible. When I start pouring the good oil out, the funk comes up from the bottom and goes right into my good oil reservoir.
	The only way I can think of to allow good separation of the bad from the good is to create a good conical tank.
	This month, I intend to make my own conical tanks (probably 2) from used metal barrels (or drums). I found a guy online who has plans (drawings) for welding two barrels together end-to-end and adding a cone and plumbing to one end making a large conical tank. This looks like a great way to put all my funky oil through a good separation process and get the good separated from the bad.
	If I am able to make this happen, I will post images of the arrangement on this site and give descriptions of the plumbing as needed. I am becoming more convinced that conical tanks definitely have their role in home biodiesel processing.

11/2007

I have been looking for a diesel generator so I can try going off the grid and become completely independent. I searched the web for a couple of weeks diligently looking for something that was inexpensive both to purchase and to run while retaining good reliability. This, as it turns out, is a very difficult thing to find... until you discover the Listeroid diesel engines!

During my search, I found a guy who makes steel cones that are made specifically for us biodiesel home brewers. You get these cones and you weld them to a steel barrel and make perfect conical tanks! And they're only $40 each! I bought four of these cones and I am going to make my own conical tanks from them and enjoy the versatility of cone tanks without the horrific price tag! Awesome! Thank you, Boss Buck!

03/2008	This month, we put our brand new system into operation! We're so excited because of all the improvements over our old system.
	We can now process 95 gallons per batch--instead of 40 gallons as before.
	All of our tanks are metal barrels with cone bottoms so we can drain off water, debris, and glycerin with precision--instead of leaving about an inch of ick in the bottom of the flat-bottom barrels as before.
	Since all of our vessels are now metal barrels, we can apply heat with water heater elements thus decreasing processing time, increasing clean separation of funk from oil, water from oil, fuel from glycerin, and decreasing drying time.
	We have hard-plumbed all of our vessels together so there are no hoses to attach and detach from unions where leaks inevitably occur and where drip pans are required. The room stays clean and the oil stays contained throughout the process.
	Each tank has its own pump to move around its contents. This allows for independent use and separate operations to occur and eliminates the need to share a pump between vessels.
	The barrels are standing up on welded metal legs leaving the area beneath the barrels open for plumbing, leaving the floor beneath the vessels clear for cleaning, and keeping obstructions located behind the barrel legs instead of protruding into the room. This leaves more space for other things--like your shins!
	We wired all heating elements and all pumps to a set of switches which are conveniently mounted to each vessel. This gives us complete, independent control over each heating element and each pump with the flip of a switch. No more plugging in and out of electrical cords!
	All heating elements have their own thermostats. This allows us to regulate the amount of heat we apply to each vessel and reduces electrical usage. It also allows us to leave the operation unattended--rather than standing around monitoring the thermometer to make sure you don't overheat the tank contents.
	Methanol is now $5.00/gallon and that's the best price I can find locally.
	We are now employing the new method of "pre-processing" our oil using captured glycerol from a previously processed batch. This is a new technique about which I read on the InfoPop forum. You start by collecting glycerol from a processed batch. Then, you heat up your next batch of oil. When it's warmed up, you add the old glycerol from the previous batch and let it circulate for one hour. Then you stop the pump and let it settle for one hour. Drain off the glycerin and your oil is now partially processed! It uses the captured Methanol and chemical from your old, waste glycerol to pre-process your next batch rather than let it go to waste!!! It's awesome! Try it! You'll be amazed.
	Lastly, we are pre-filtering everything! We think this is having the most dramatic effect on our oil. We use sock filters from McMaster/Carr and we've only used 50-micron socks so far. But I've just ordered some 100-micron, 50-micron, and 25-micron socks to do some more experimentation. We have a by-pass valve to relieve the pressure on the sock when it gets clogged up. This is important. In our experiments, we found that the pressure can easily build up to the point where the sock will blow out. This isn't pretty! So take the time and extra expense to add a by-pass valve to your filtering system and avoid the headaches.
	This has been a very busy month or six weeks. But the investment in time and the effort to get it right is now paying off. We're very happy with the results and it only seems to be getting better and better as we test and experiment with improvements to the system.

04/2008	So we've had a chance to play with the new system for a while now. We have made a couple of discoveries.
	Discovery #1: We have discovered while filtering this particular oil, the oil I collect from the restaurants I know in town, that there are hardly any 100-micron particles captured when I use a 100-micron barrel pan-style filter. This is the kind of filter that is basically a ring of plastic that fits inside the barrel head, hangs from the rim of the barrel and suspends a screen over the barrel opening. You place one of these pan style filters on your barrel and pour or pump the oil into the pan. The particles are captured in the screen and the filtered oil drizzles down into the barrel. The oil I get from my restaurants has 100 micron particles in it to be sure but for some reason the pan filters don't capture very many of those particles.
	In my experiments I have found the McMaster/Carr sock filters in 100 micron size work very well. They capture a lot of particles and after about 300 gallons are very clogged with funk. I find it interesting that one type of filter works much better than another -- both of them are rated at 100 micron but they don't capture the same particles.
	Discovery #2: I had fully intended to use water washing techniques that I have used all along since I started making biodiesel in July of 2006. I even built the wash tank, plumbed the pump and valves, and added the spraying arrangement at the top of the tank. Then I spoke to a fellow in England who has been making biodiesel for a very long time and knows what he is doing: Graham Laming. Graham told me via email that he is not a fan of water washing biodiesel. He explained to me there are other ways to clean the fuel (pre-filtering, adding heat, applying DC electricity, etc.) and to wash away the excess Methanol is, in his opinion, a waste of a good burnable fuel source.
	Following my conversation with Graham, we then took out the wash tank that I had so meticulously built and in its place we put a second filter tank. Two filter tanks, each filtering nearly 50 gallons each, will prepare enough fuel for my 95 gallon processor. They run simultaneously and filters are changed on each filter tank at the same time to keep the processing progress in sync. When both filter tanks have reduced the debris in the oil to 25 microns, I then pump their contents into the processor and begin processing a batch of fuel.
	So my processing steps are as follows: I start by applying barrel "pan" type poly filters to the tops of the filter tanks and pouring collected (used) oil through the pan filters. The first pan filter is 400 microns.
	Then I turn on the heating elements in both filter tanks and heat the oil to about 125F degrees. Once the oil is heated to 125F degrees, I start the pumps.
	Each filter tank has a pump on it that pulls oil from the bottom of the tank and pumps it through pipes to the top of the tank. As it turns and starts to fall into the top of the barrel, it must pass through whatever filter I have placed there. At first, the filters are the "pan" type that hang from the rim of the barrels. Since I start by passing the cold (dirty) oil through a 400 micron filter, when I turn on the pumps, I replace the 400 micron filter with a 200 micron pan filter and pump the oil through it for about an hour.
	The pumped oil simply passes through pipes that bring the oil from the bottom of the barrel to the top of the barrel. Nothing special; simply cycling of the oil from bottom to top and through a filter.
	After about an hour of cycling the oil through the 200 micron pan filter, I switch over to a sock filter. I have arranged a fixture that will hold sock filters over each barrel. The pumped oil passes through the sock filters and drains into the barrel. The first sock filter is rated at 100 microns. Again I allow this the oil to cycle through the filter for 1 hour.
	The next sock filter is rated at 50 microns. The 100 micron sock filter gets a lot of course debris like black pepper and some food bits while the 50 micron starts to get small stuff like tortilla chip powder and the like. Once again, I allow this cycling to continue for at least an hour. Oddly enough, the 50 micron sock filters don't clog very much. They don't trap very much debris. And this is consistent from batch to batch. I find this very interesting. The remaining debris in the oil is smaller than 50 microns, apparently.
	The last sock filter I use is rated at 25 microns. The oil is looking very clear by now and appears very clean -- but I know it's not. There's still a lot of debris in the oil and the heat allows it to drop through the oil where it is pumped through the filter. So away I go again, cycling the oil for another hour through the 25 micron filter.
	The last step before processing is to throw valves on each filter tank that divert the oil from the filters and sends it instead to the processing tank. As I watch the oil pass up the sight tube and into the top of the processing tank, I can plainly see how clean it is. The oil is sunny yellow in color and very clear (transparent). I can wiggle my fingers behind the sight tube and easily see each of my fingers very clearly. The oil is now very clean!
	But that's not all of the filtering my oil goes through. After processing the oil, I have a loop in the plumbing on the processor that allows me to pump the oil through yet another filter. This time it's a 10 micron replaceable element filter and every bit of fuel that is transferred from the processor to my storage tank goes through that 10 micron filter.
	The fuel storage tank also has a 10 micron element filter on it so before any of my fuel is actually used, it must pass through another 10 micron filter as it enters its destination. [On my Ford truck, I have additional filters. The first is a 10 micron cannister filter and the second is a 2 micron cannister filter. The fuel is pumped through these two filters using an auxilliary electric fuel pump. By the time my fuel hits the injectors, it is very clean.]
	So the net result from all of this is the elimination of two major processing steps: washing and drying. No water is ever introduced into my fuel and therefore no drying is ever necessary. Washing and drying are also very time consuming processes. Removing them from my overall brewing process is a HUGE savings in time. I can now filter a full batch of oil (95 gallons) in one day and process it completely the next day. Two days to go from waste oil to biodiesel is a HUGE reduction of time and energy spent. I am very pleased.

11/2010	My best friend Gordon came up from California to visit me and of course I had to show him my biodiesel brewing operation (again). In so doing, I mentioned all the glycerin I have accumulated and lamented what I was going to do with all of it. I also talked about making soap and about how I lacked the time to mess with it, etc. Gordon asked me if he could have a 5-gallon cubie of the stuff and of course I jumped at the chance to get rid of at least 5 gallons. So he put it in his vehicle and when he left, it went with him.
	When Gordon got back to California, he got hold of me within a few days and told me that he had made some soap from the glycerin he had taken from my place. He was pretty excited about it and told me all about the experiments he had been doing with different blends of glycerin, fats and oils, caustic and water to achieve different qualities of soap products. He really inspired me and we started an in-depth discussion about how we could make all the soaps we needed in each of our households and keep the quality high for our families.
	The discussion inevitably turned toward the need for very clean glycerin to start with and how my glycerin lacked that cleanliness. Gordon told me about a guy he met down there near his house who runs his used cooking oil through a centrifuge to yield super clean oil which, in turn, yields super clean glycerin. My dad designed centrifuges his whole business life so I knew what a centrifuge was. I had never heard of using one as a step in biodiesel production. Gordon told me about the centrifuge his acquaintance was using and I went to work looking on the Internet for something I could use to do the same thing.
	My biggest intrigue with the idea of using a centrifuge was the elimination of all of those filters, filter changes, dripping filters, clogged filters, buckets of filters, buying new filters, and on and on and on with the filters. I have put up with that method (filtering) for 4+ years because it's all I ever had to work with. But to have a nice clean centrifuge, run the oil through it, and have beautifully clean oil come out the other side -- oh, man! Did that ever sound good to me!
	I searched on Craig's List for the word "centrifuge" but found nothing. I searched the entire west coast of the US and was unable to find a single listing for a centrifuge. Then I went to eBay.com and there I found some promising sources. One in particular seemed like it would do the job. It was designed to specifically handle used cooking oil and was not out of range on the price. I decided I would start saving to buy one as soon as I had the funds.
	In the mean time, I have begun the collection of supplies to make the centrifuge work. I found a video of a guy up in Canada who collects used cooking oil, takes it to a heated storage unit (it gets very cold where he is located), and runs it through a centrifuge to clean it. He uses 1000 liter totes (the big poly totes with pipe framing around them to protect them) and he puts the oil into one that is mounted up high. The oil gravity-feeds down into the centrifuge, and the cleaned oil gravity-feeds down into a second 1000 liter tote below the level of the centrifuge. It's all gravity fed. To run 1000 liters through a centrifuge at a reasonable rate (perhaps 10 gallons per hour) takes quite some time so he sets this process in motion and leaves it for a while before coming back to check on its progress.
	I like this centrifuge idea. I like how independent it is, how reliable it is, how easy it is, how clean it is, and how predictable it is. Everything about it appeals to my logic and I feel like this is the route I want to take my biodiesel processing. I love dropping filters from the entire brewing process. I love knowing the oil is genuinely clean from the moment I put it into the processor to the moment I put it in my vehicle. This truly looks to me like the way to go!
	So I intend to get a centrifuge and I will post pictures and descriptions of my centrifuge when I get it and set it into motion. Stay tuned!