First batch

[greasemonkey]

100 litres of palm. Heated to 50c with the turk. Turk threw a wobbler after an hour, so pump into the processor, and heat with the immersion up to 65, or above.

Working to a base of 5, I calculate 15 litres of methanol, and 2500ml of ASM.
Make up 80% of that, so IIRC 12 litres Methanol, and 2000ml of ASM.
Circulate for an hour and test.

Ummmm.........
50/50 test proves it is soapy. Gloriously, fantastically soapy.
10/90 gives 2ml of drop out, so if I am correct, that is 20% not converted.
Glyc split well.

I went to make up the required amount of chems, then thought better of it.
Being as it was so soapy, it occurred to me that I could be wasting my time. I didn't really want to turn the whole lot into jelly. Don't know if that was a risk or not, but thought it was better just to leave it alone.
The van will run on oil anyway.

Demething was a bit of a non starter. A cool breeze picked up, my processor is not yet insulated, I'd have been there till daylight trying to get it up to temp.

So I'm left with a partially converted soapy substance.

What happened was...........I was testing the processor with water. I thought it was clear of water, but when I went to ciculate the oil, about a litre shot out of the pipe, into the oil.
Hopefully, now I have some glyc, I can glyc wash next time anyway.

Will this stuff run the vehicle?

[kamaangir]

You run your tranny on veg so any amount of conversion is better than what it normally runs on any way.

I never did a 50/50 test pre demeth as all the soap is in suspension until all or most of the meth has been removed.

You need to now bubble the bio till the meth evaporates, and let the soaps settle for a day or two. Then do a 50/50.

You need to watch the bio does not set solid and maybe get some missfuel or petrol into it after you have settled it and the soaps have dropped out.

If you water wash you can probably get it ready quicker but I have never done any so can't advise you on it.

Don't give up on it, you are almost there!

[greasemonkey]

Cheers Arash, I've drained the processor now, so it is all in cans.
Didn't realise the 50/50 needed doing after the demeth.
I'm basically delighted that it has come out any where near like it has. It's given me a good idea of how the process works, and a few modifications I need to make to the processor.

[Tony]

Well on the way!

Any water in the mix will give you soaps.  I think you did very well to get the conversion you got since it had water in.

50:50 testing is pointless until it's been demethed and settled.  All bio is rich with soaps during the process and shortly after demething.

Treat what you have as 80% diesel 20% veg!

[kamaangir]

All the bio I made I never demethed by condensing, just dropped the glyc and bubbled the bio in a blue 205L drum with an air pump. After about 12-14 hours turned off air pump and left to settle for a couple of days more. Usually had a laod of soap settle out to the bottom then through a 5 or 1 micron bowl type filter and into the car.

I never had a blocked filter unless I rushed it and did not settle properly.

You will find your own method which will work best for you and your feed stock equipment etc...

[RichardP]

Reduce your base to a maximum of 3.5 when you're using ASM too. 5 is way too high and you'll just end up wasting chemicals. If you hadn't had the water problems you would probably have got full conversion with 2000ml in a single stage.

[julesandtash]

Well done on your first batch.
There was absolutely no point in a 50/50 test after stage 1 since there will always be soap present at that point. Even using ASM there will still be some.

Getting an 80% conversion on stage 1 is very good - that is what I tend to get on most occasions. With 80% conversion and a good clear glyc split, you were well on your way to perfect conversion.

Had you just drained the glyc and then gone onto stage 2 which the correct amount of chemicals, I bet you would have had a clear 3/27 result.

Even at that point, a 50/50 would have shown soaps present (this is why we have to wash or settle bio after processing even when it is perfectly converted.

If you re-heat that batch you have and then process it for the second stage which the correct amount of chemicals (maybe with a little bit more methanol to replace that which has evaporated from the fuel since processing and what will evaporate whilst you are re-heating)I bet you will get good bio.

Have you not got any contact numbers for some fellow brewers. That stage would have been the perfect time to call one of the experienced bio brewers on here or VOD for advice.

[greasemonkey]

Brilliant, thanks for the advice guys. My mistake with the 50/50. If I hadn't gone and done that, I would probably have just added the extra chems. Never mind, live and learn.
Just goes to show, reading about something is no substitute for getting and doing it.
I will probably stick it back in the reactor this afternoon.
I drained the pipe work into a clear bottle, and I can see a bit of dropout, which does look like unconverted oil, rather than glyc, and the sample I took has not had any more glyc dropped out, so looks like an excellent split.

I'll reduce the base next time, cheers.

[Rotary-Motion]

rock on GM coming along nicely by sounds of it

well done chapper...

hows that throat?

[greasemonkey]

Another 3 litres of methanol, and 525 ML of methylate, circulate for half an hour, and the dropout in the 10/90 isn't even worth measuring. Just a slight crumb, less than half a ml.
Just settling the glyc, and leave it cool a bit to put into cans, don't really want to leave it in the processor overnight.
Jobs a good 'un.

Throats getting better thanks RM. Still a little sore, but not bad.

[Rotary-Motion]

kool.

must be quite a buzz to get your first bio and use it chap, nice one

 

[greasemonkey]

It'll be a day or two before I use it. Will have to try and get an air pump tomorrow, and set something up a bit quick.
If all goes well, I might do a bit of a trip on it next weekend. Probably be raining by then..........

Would a plastic syringe floating around in the methanol drum cause any contamination to the methanol? I could imagine it may start trying to dissolve it.
I can't get it out anyway.
Don't ask................

[julesandtash]

Just leave it in the processor - fully converted palm bio, especially when it hasn't been demethed, wont solidify in the current overnight temperatures (I know, I make 100% palm bio for my heating).
Keeping it in one big batch will mean it takes longer to cool down to ambient temperature than decanting into smaller ones

And, well done on getting a good result on your first batch. I bet it took me a year or more to get fuel that good (I was making bio before I found VOD and Biopowered wasn't around then)

Dont worry about the syringe, it is unlikely to be any issue. You can get methanol in plastic drums 205 litre drums, IBCs and 25 litre HDPE containers, none of which are affected by it.

[greasemonkey]

Ah, yeah, I'll leave it in the processor then. It'll give a chance for the glyc to drop out really well. Like you say, its not going to go solid.

Syringe can stay where it is too, flipping thing.....

Would something like a pond pump be ok for bubbling, something around 45 litres a minute, or is that to much? An aquarium pump seems a bit to small.
I'll probably just drill some holes in some pipe for the bubbler, rather than buying an airstone.

[Head Womble]

In the future if you get a small amount of dropout in the 90/10 just let it run a little longer,
this will normally push it to a full convertion.

Your transit will still run on this bio (as will most cars)

Well done for getting this far on your first batch