Member converts to Bio-diesel

[nathanrobo]

That looks fantastic.
I am sure you will be making top notch bio in no time.

I can't remember the price you mentioned of the "all in" finished liter of bio?

Looking forward to first batch making report.

Gra.

Hi Graham,

Assembled the external inline heater today for the water jacket in the cone, assembling other parts tomorrow and back to making bio by the end of the week.

Excluding the cost of the processor, it's 25 - 30 pence per litre including feedstock, chems and electricity, although I'm planning to install an oil fired boiler (running on bio), to heat my new cavity walled and insulated shed, this would also heat the water system in the processor taking it off grid.

There's no limit on the amount of bio produced for heating, so I'll can just increase the amount of feedstock that I get, make a couple of batches over and above my road fuel allowance to run the boiler. This would also mean that I'd be happy to make fuel in the winter, where I usually get it all made and stored by the end of November.

 

[Graham]

Excellent ,

keep up the progress reports.

Thanks,

gra.

 

[karl webster]

Looking good Nathan. Also find the bio for heating very interesting .hmmmm

 

[nathanrobo]

Karl,

Usually palm oil is unwanted by bio brewers, hence you can get it free If you were to get a few hundred litres and convert it, plus a used oil boiler (£100 off ebay), as long as you keep the bio produced > 6 deg C you could use it in the burner. For heating there is literally no limit. Not too sure how it compares with Gas or leccy, but just being off grid is really appealing and maybeee a lot cheaper.

 

[nathanrobo]

Spent about 3 hours on it today, fitted the Eductor, the inline heater for the water jacket - all fitted with Grunfos pump and tee for pressurised header tank (water system not normally fitted to a reactor), fitted a site tube on a tee with a ball valve either end to enable pulling in of meth / feedstock (these can also be pulled in from the Venturi) tightened pipework.

Just got to wire it all, add a PID / SSR later, fit the condenser and seal the inspection hatch on the top. Then we're ready for the first test run.

I'll add pictures of the final machine (minus PID) on Friday.

 

[karl webster]

Exciting stuff Mate. Looking forward to hearing the results.

 

[warrenpfo]

Look forward to an inspection and purchasing my unit.

 

[nathanrobo]

It's practically finished. I've been fine filtering enough oil for 3 batches (that should do me for 6 months).

I wanted to find an easier way to filter the feedstock and do it to a much finer level (in the past I've strained at 600 micron and then reacted). I reckon with really pure feedstock, the process will use less chems and wash easier. So I used the following method:

strain at 600mu as per normal into a conical tank, heat to 70 deg or more, Pump using the gear pump into a 400 micron strainer, once it's all gone through once change the strainer to 150 mu and then centrifuge. Pretty clean / hands off - just wash the strainers after use.

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After centrifuging I got the following out:

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First reaction will be tomorrow or Monday (been running on Derv for a couple of weeks now - forgot how much it is to fill an LC)

 

[nathanrobo]

Exciting stuff Mate. Looking forward to hearing the results.

I'll give you a shout after I reacted the first batch. You still coming down?

 

[karl webster]

Defo come down mate. Looking forward to seeing the new bit of kit

 

[nathanrobo]

First batch complete with 90 conversion after first dose / balance 2nd dose. Rushed the neutralisation stage (only necessary for pump washing) and caused myself a it of a challenge when it came to washing. Happy days with cheap motoring. My son's also running it in his '06 Punto 1.3 multijet.

2nd batch underway - using the glycerin from the first batch to 'glyc wash' before reaction. Dosing tomorrow. The shed isn't complete yet, looking for tiles (if anyone's got them going cheap 6 x 3 roof 20 deg pitch with 450mm overhang). As soon as this is done, I'll get some video's posted.

Also I've got 2 x PIDs (one inline heater and the other to sense the tank's temp) plus SSR / relays to switch heater. I'll be wiring these up in a metal project box, but also want to throw a timer into the mix to switch things on and off based on temperature etc. Still looking for expertise with this as it's a bit beyond me at the mo.

 

[nathanrobo]

Quick update... 2nd and 3rd batch achieved 94% and 95% reactions respectively from the first stage and perfect 100% reactions on 2nd stage. The reason I mention this is that I set out to eliminate variability from the process, which would suggest consistent quality. My old processes had reaction percentages from first stage all over the place from 6% to 30%. So although early days, it seems that I'm getting near to what I had set out to do. The first batch that I did was 90% but I know why this is slightly higher.

Happy days, fuel in stock for a while - I can relax

 

[karl webster]

Sounds good Nathan.

Stop handing it to the government again lol.

Are you filtering your stock oil before you start now then?

 

[warrenpfo]

Very good results. When you are settled it would be great to have a chat and maybe a look at how things operate so I can confirm my "order".

I just want a run through the process for the layman and to find out all the associated costs to put my mind at ease before I take the jump.

 

[nathanrobo]

Very good results. When you are settled it would be great to have a chat and maybe a look at how things operate so I can confirm my "order".

I just want a run through the process for the layman and to find out all the associated costs to put my mind at ease before I take the jump.

Mate let me know when you want to come up... I got the plant up and running in a hurry - (I had been spending a fortune on derv), before the roof was on the shed. I've been a bit busy, so I'm gonna find a builder to put the roof on for me in the next few days. So just let me know when you want to come over and take a look.

Ref the whole kit. once we've established what you want, I'll put you onto the appropriate people for the reactor and I can hook you up with the polishing kit if you wanted to go that route (advisable with a 100 series)

btw is 19.3 really all you are getting to the gallon? Is that town driving?

 

[nathanrobo]

Decided to make another change to my set up... decided to have the tank that dries and purifies my feedstock made out of stainless steel to match the processor and have it designed to eliminate the risk of spills and mean that a single tank full can be dewatered per batch of fuel (at the moment I have to dewater 2 tanks of feedstock to each batch - processor is nearly twice as big as the processor).

So far I've worked out that it wants to be about 1000mm dia and a little under 500mm deep on legs to allow for the cone and drainage of water etc. So a SS lid with a hole in the centre for a strainer (with a slight slope so any drips roll onto the strainer). With a lid that comes down onto the whole in the centre with a large O'ring. This lid would mount the centrifuge. Inside would be a large SS diffuser which would spray the hot oil to remove further water vapour. It would also have an extractor fan (off a gas boiler) to extract water vapours.

I'll be headed out to see the guy that fabricated my processor this week so, hopefully I'll have some diagrams to post.

 

[nathanrobo]

I've decided to sell the LC in the next couple of months after the new carpets / interior's been sorted - should have all mechanicals in tip top condition too. Going for a relatively economical E320 Estate (Merc), so will probably stop making bio.