| Fluid Paths through my Appleseed Reactor |
| Unless you see a reactor in action, you might have difficulty visualizing the paths through which the fluids pass during processing. I have created drawings to demonstrate this part of the reactor's use. I hope you find them informative. |
| I have included small arrows indicating the fluid path in each drawing. I have also included red X's indicating which reactor valves should be closed for the fluid to flow properly. |
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Oil Fill Path
The first thing you must do in order to use your reactor is fill it with oil. The drawing (left) shows the oil path as it enters the reactor.
The way you connect your reactor to the oil source is up to you. I use poly tubing with union pipe fittings at each end. I connect one end of the poly tubing to the reactor (where you see the oil entering the system) and the other end to the oil source; in my case, the source is a barrel full of used cooking oil.
The valve leading back into the base of the reactor and up the sight tube is turned off during the "loading" process. This restricts the pump to pulling oil from ONLY the source tank preventing useless recycling of the oil from inside the reactor tank. In other words, you don't want to pull oil from the reactor when you're loading the reactor--you only want to pull oil from the source tank during the loading process.
The oil is drawn in by the cycling pump and forced through the reactor fill tube into the top of the reactor.
10-liter increments should be marked on the sight tube allowing you to see exactly how much oil is in the reactor at any given time. I put marks on my sight tube indicating every 10 liters. |
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Oil Cycling Path
The oil is cycled through the reactor over and over using the cycling pump. Oil is drawn from the bottom of the tank and forced up through the fill tube back into the top of the reactor. Cycling the oil in this manner accomplishes a couple of important tasks.
1. If your oil source includes more than one type of oil or you are collecting your oil from more than one source, cycling thoroughly mixes the oil into a homogenized blend throughout. This is important because of the titration process; you want to know how your oil--ALL of your oil--will react during titration. Thorough mixing is essential.
2. Mixing evens out the temperature of the oil as it heats up. It works like stirring a pot of soup on a stove, blending the hot spots in the liquid with the cooler ones, achieving an even, accurate temperature of the entire volume of oil. No hot spots means you can trust your thermometer readings and this keeps you safe when you introduce the Methanol. |
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Methanol/NaOH Path
Heat your oil to 140F degrees. Methanol flash point is 147F degrees so we stop heating the oil at 140F degrees leaving us a 7F degree margin of safety. This drawing shows the path the Methanol/NaOH solution takes as it enters the reactor. Remember: Methanol is added to the oil at 22% by volume. A titration is required to know exactly how much NaOH will be needed to release the free fatty acids from the used cooking oil. The NaOH is carefully measured and slowly added to the Methanol and stirred until the NaOH dissolves. Then the Methanol/NaOH solution is added to the reactor. |
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Drain Path
When the reaction is complete, the fuel needs to be drained from the reactor. This drawing shows the path used to drain the reactor.
I use the cycling pump to actively remove the fuel and force it into the settling/washing tank sitting nearby. When the cycling pump won't pump any more fuel from the reactor,
I turn the pump off and tip the reactor gently to one side allowing any remaining fuel to drain out. The lower exit is used to passively get all remaining fuel out of the reactor and all valves are opened allowing all sight tubes, cycling return tubes and plumbing to drain completely. I don't want anything left inside the reactor where it can harden and clog the system and draining the system completely while the fuel is hot is the best time to ensure success. |
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