How are you recovering the Methanol from your glycerine ?

[DavidA]

Just point me to a thread if there is one.

Otherwise, what do you recommend as the best way to get back the methanol ?

I have (sealed) buckets of glycerine that need sorting out.

Clearly it will be some kind of stil. But which way to go. Does it have to be conical or will a domed top be sufficient.

Dave.

[countrypaul]

Depends on whether you have done a prewash with water before dropping the glyc. If you have done a prewash then the methanol you get back is unlikley to be pure enough to be useful in the transesterification process. If no water was added and the oil was dried before reacting then you should get reuseable methanol back. If you have used ASM rather than caustic with glyc dried oil the methanol recovered will be very pure and certainly reuseable.

If you are looking at a Gl processor then that can easily be used to recover the methanol in glycerol, much easier if it is potassium based rather than sodium, so liquid rather than solid.

Using a clip top 205 drum for the basis of a GL would make it easier to put solid glycerol in.

There is no need for a conical top or even domed top, a flat top as with the clip top 205 will work.

[dgs]

For every litre of soap in the glycerol there is 2 litres of bio. On average there is 4 to 5  litres of bio in a 20 litre cubie of glycerol.

Recovering methanol from the glycerol will not recover the biodiesel.

Doing a glycerol pre-wash will recover most of the biodiesel (it prefers to stay with the oil than the glycerol) and most of the methanol.

Just doing methanol recovery is a waste of time.

If you do it in large enough quantities you can do the glyc wash in a large tank at ambient temperature. I use an ibc even in mid Winter.