Alright guys, so my instructor at school has a biodiesel set up in the back room and he makes it in his down time at school and he just fills his truck and a couple of his mercedes up.
I'm intrigued with this and i really want to start.
I have access to large 55 gallon plastic drums.
Fittings and valves etc for free. mayeb even piping.
I'd like some of that clear oil hose i see a lot though probably end up buying that.
I'll buy a pump, NT clearwater pump recommended?
My only question is from where do the hoses run to.
I am confused about that part as everywhere tells how to do it but not where to set it up and hook everything.
Also you MUST run a wash tank right?
And how do i go about doing that? I read that you "mix" it up for a couple hours.
Any help is greatly appreciated (:

 

Search for appleseed diagrams.
Uses a hot water heater... its pretty spiffy.

 

Thinking about going with ace roto moldings. just trying to see if i can find them anywhere around here or if i would have to order them off line and i don't wanna do that.
Have a few 55 gallon drums sitting around i could use for storage, the ace roto moldings are funneled at the bottom for full drainage for maybe your reaction or wash tanks.

Who has good suggestions for titration, i ahve heard of two i like the potassion hydroxide sollution with turmeric and isopropyl
anyone think that is reliable?

 

I have used both NaOH and KOH. NaOH seemed to have only Slightly better conversion. The resulting bio was also a little more redish. The Glycerin from using KOH is also much easier to work with, believe me. I use Magnesol for dry-wash. there are lots of pictures of processors and info on this forum along with people willing to answer questions. Make sure and do your research and have a source of oil and a place to get rid of your glycerin.

 

could you inform me on what drywash is?
I have read about aquarium heaters in there as well as dry rocks or something hanging into them?
What exactly is "washing"? pouring water in THROUGH the oil till it settles to the bottom? what exactly does that do?
Anyone have good suggestions on good sources for used oil?

 

Like Trent already mentioned, first and foremost, you should establish your source of oil before starting anything. Without that, you're dead in the water. If you can figure out how to establish that connection, get them to commit to giving you their oil, set up a system of picking up their oil, (whether it be picking it up from the original cubies that the oil came in, or pumping from a drum you supplied to them), then you should be able to figure out how to set yourself up with a processing system.

On the subject of picking up oil, different restaurants have different used oil handling systems. For those with the space out back for a receptacle, they tend to dump their oil hot directly from the fryers during or after clean up the night before. So you'll need to come up with a way to either pick up that full drum with a lift, or have a means to pump it out into your own container. Some restaurants do not want, or do not have the space for a receptacle out back, so most of them will empty the hot used oil into a stock pot to cool overnight, and then pour it into the original cubies they came in. Or, they will allow it to cool in the fryer overnight, and then dispense directly into the cubies the next day. With this method, the used oil can easily be picked up and carried.

So this is just one aspect of the whole process you'll need to think through. Here's a link to a great site with everything you will need to know: How to Make Biodiesel at Home
If you get stuck somewhere, there's plenty of help here too. Good luck.

 

I am in the process of seeing if a restaurant will let me take their used oil.
On another note, i have access to pretty much any large drums or containers i need.
My only other question is can someoen give me a quick run through or explanation of tank to tank plumbing?
From what i have read:
Tank one: Crude oil tank, pour your crude used vegetable oil into tank through course mesh filter to take out large contaminants, let sit and allow other smaller contaminants to drain to bottom before opening valve to pump through inline filter into reaction tank?
Reaction tank: where you pour your methoxide into your oil heated to about 130, let mix for 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. This is when your glycerine forms and you must allow it to settle before draining it off. correct or no?
Wash tank: does this need to be a seperate tank from your reaction tank? i would like to keep my set up as small as possible so 3 tanks preferably but 4 i could deal with. Where you introduce water and air to absorb and do away with any excess methanol in the oil, let water settle to bottom before draining it out, repeat process until water is mostly clear in color.
Storage tank: Where you store washed biodiesel ready to use.
Is this correct for the most part? correct me on anythign and add anything i need to know.
Thanks for everythning!

 

How do you plan to test your oil for moisture content, and how do you plan to dry it?
You will need it to be at or below 500ppm to effectively be able to make biodiesel. More moisture than that will cause problems.

 

I don't know.
How do i test it? So your saying if the oil tests above 500ppm when i first get it, the oil is unusable?

 

I just need to know what percentage or whatever it is measured in, how much water is acceptable to make biodiesel with?
To do the wash process, the one i would like to try i have just seen to pour the designated 5% water of original volume of oil into the tank and let settle, drain and repeat until the water comes out mostly clear.
But while reading it said not to pour too much or too aggresively or it will mix it too much and make a big batch of "soap". The description said to let the pump do the mixing.
Does that suggest that the pump circulates the water or was that just a typo? I don't see how the water could settle if a pump is continuously circulating the mixture.

 

I don't added water myself. Someone (Fabman?) said why add water when you're trying to remove it? Made sense to me so I never did water wash and went with the dry wash method. Water will settle to the bottom of a drum anyway, so why not drain it off before it goes into the processor?

I should test for water, but never had an issue with it since Magnesol seems to do a good job of absorbing any water in the biodiesel.

 

If that is the case. and water does indeed settle to the bottom of oil, which is a fact. Why can you not use oil with a certain percentage of water in it? Could i not just let the water settle to the bottom over a period of days and drain it off?
Rushmore you say you ONLY use a dry wash, so instead of pouring water in you do an air dry kind of method? with bubbling and heat over a period of time, does this work well and settle the water to the bottom??

 

Try looking at this thread: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-magnesol.html

It will tell you a lot about the benefits of dry washing....

 

So basically dry washing is just putting whatever magnesol is in it instead of water.

Still i have the question of how do people determine that oil is unusable because of the percentage of water in it? oil CANNOT absorb water so why do they not just allow it to settle and drain it off like we do anyways?
This part confuses me

 

that is exactly what I do before it goes into the processor. We also use an "up-flow" system to filter and separate water from the oil before it goes into the processor.