Anhydrous sodium methylate

The bit of code below assists indexing on search engines. Replace "Biodiesel new page" with a very brief description of what the page is about. Then delete this text.

This page is Work In Progress and therefore may not be complete.

Use the code above if you are working on the page. Delete it when the page is finished and complete. Delete this text once you have read it.

This page gives a guide to making Biodiesel from Anhydrous Sodium Methylate (ASM), a liquid catalyst which can be used in place of the more conventional Sodium Hydroxide or Potassium Hydroxide catalysts.

The TOC tag creates a content box. The text it contains is generated automatically based on the page headings. Delete this text once you have read it.

What is it and where do I get it from?

What is Anhydrous Sodium Methylate

It is a white powder in pure form but for practical use in diy biodiesel it is dissolved in pure methanol at 28% to 30% concentration. 28% ASM in Methanol is a colourless, viscous fluid with a slighlty sweet alcohol smell - very similar to mehanol which, after all, makes up a large proportion of the fluid volume. ASM is both highly flammable and corrosive. It evaporates readily to leave a white powdery residue and at low temperatures it tends to precipitate out the white solid.

Availability

Compared to Sodium Hydroxide and Potassium Hydroxide which are readily available from a number of chemical suppliers around the UK, ASM is somewhat harder to source. At the time of writing, the only company readily supplying ASM to DIY producers is Trinity Research who supply it in 25L HDPE containers, 60L drums, 200L drums and IBCs.

Making biodiesel with Anhydrous Sodium Methylate

Text and photo content here ...

Delete if not required.

Calculating how much to use

A lot of clever people have gone through a lot of complex calculations to work out the correct amount of ASM to use. However, a certain James Leach from the Vegetable Oil Diesel forum has simplified pages of complex organic chemistry down to a simple, single line equation

ml of Methylate = ((Base Amount in grams + titration value in grams) X batch volume in litres) X 5

As an example : assuming a batch size of 150 litres, a titration of 2.0g/l and using a base value of 5.0 g/l gives

((5.0 + 2.0) X 150) X 5 = 5250ml of Methylate

Clearly the base figure is adjustable and can be tweaked to get as low as possible whilst maintaining good results.

Whilst it is perfectly possible to use a single stage reaction for making biodiesel, many brewers are now taking advantage of the benefits of the two stage no titration process with it's reduced chemical usage, reduced soap production and better yields.

Methylate lends itself nicely to the two stage process and the base figure can often be reduced somewhat.

For the first stage of the process, the formula is

ml of methylate = (base figure X batch volume) X 5

A conversion test, be that 3/27, 5/45 or 10/90 is then done to identify the remaining unconverted litres in the batch

The second stage formula is then

ml of methylate = (base figure X unconverted litres) X 5

Several brewers, including myself, have achieved very good results using a base figure of 4.0 for both stages.

As a worked example, using the same 150 litre batch as the single stage example, a base figure of 4.0 and an assumed fallout of 2.0ml in a 10/90 test gives :-

First stage : ml of Methylate = (150 X 4.0) X 5 = 3000ml

The 2.0ml of fallout in the 10/90 suggests that 20% of the 150 litre batch or 30 litres remain unconverted

Second stage : ml of Methylate = (30 X 4.0) X 5 = 600ml

This demonstrates the significant saving in chemicals of the two stage process, giving 3600ml for the two stage instead of 5250ml for the single stage and is based on real world results I have seen in my own processor.

Mixing

The ease of mixing is without doubt the best feature of mixing Sodium Methylate. Using conventional solid catalysts is a labour intensive process. Whilst Potassium Hydroxide flakes dissolve relatively easily in methanol, Sodium Hydroxide micro pearl is more trouble and full sized Sodium Hydroxide pearl requires significant effort.

Mixing Sodium Methylate and Methanol is an instantaneous process, comparable to mixing fruit cordial with water since both are liquids.

etc etc

End the page with the headings below...

See also

Use if there are similar pages in the wiki, if not delete.

• Link within this wiki here
• Link within this wiki here
• Link within this wiki here

References

Use if you need to cite reference material you've used , if not delete.

1. First ref here
2. Second ref here

Further reading

Use if you can detail any useful reading matter, if not delete.

• Book details here
• Book details here
• Book details here

External links

Use if you can list any useful links on the internet, if not delete.

• Link outside this wiki here
• Link outside this wiki here
• Link outside this wiki here

Originator to sign and date here by using 4 "squiggle marks"

... delete this "nowiki" tag once you have set your categories (it's just there to stop this section getting indexed on the main page!) Add categories ... By using categories your page will get indexed on the wiki main page. For Biodiesel ... [[Category:Biodiesel]] sets the main category. Now select one from the following, deleting the others: [[Category:Introduction to Biodiesel]] [[Category:Ingredients and preparation]] [[Category:Processing methods]] [[Category:Processors and equipment]] [[Category:Finishing]] [[Category:Safety and Testing]] Do the same for Veg oil ... [[Category:vegetable oil]] Select one from the following, and delete the others: [[Category:Introduction to veg oil use]] [[Category:Collection & regulations]] [[Category:Filtration & drying equipment]] [[Category:Testing]] [[Category:Vehicle modifications]] If your page is applicable to both veg and bio, you can have a total of four category listings. Please Note: To get your page indexed on the main page it is necessary, to got to the main page, click the edit tab and then click save. ... delete this "/nowiki" tag once you have set your categories (it's just there to stop this section getting indexed on the main page!)