bio-diesel
Hi all, Here is a shortened rant on making bio-diesel. I collect old
cooking oil from some food outlets in 20 litre snap-top drums. My
refinery is an enlarged 210 drum to 250 litre on a stand with an
element from an old hot water unit and a stirrer driven with a washing
machine motor ( about 450 rpm). It has outlets bottom and side. Another
smaller drum about 45 litre to mix caustic and menthol together.
Heat 200 litres of old oil strained through fly wire to about 55c.
Fill
second drum with 36 litres of menthol - (18% of oil content ) and
carefully
add and stir measured amount of caustic*, mixing with paint stirrer for
5 min., tip into hot oil and then mix for one hour. Shut down and wait
2
to 3 hours, then drain off soap through bottom tap. Crude soap will
set
as cools, it is potassium salt, glycerin, soap and some cooking waste,
flour etc.traces of menthol can be heated out for health reasons later.
The
rest is first class diesel to be filtered and stored. It is best left a
week or
so.
* caustic amount is worked out by Taking one gram of caustic
(15.43grains) and add to 1 litre of water. (lye water = lye) Now
take
10 ml. rubbing alcohol in small jar and add 1 ml. of hot oil then add a
ml. at a time of lye till ph. paper turns heavy green. New veg. oil
has
a value of 3.5 grams of caustic per litre, old oil varies. Most of my
brews take about 5 ml. of lye to turn green e.g. 5 plus 3.5 = 8.5
equates out to 8.5 by 200 = 1.7 kg of caustic to work.
Be carefull of fumes and caustic, cover up and protect motor as fumes
will shorten electric
motor's life..... and yours. I fit a lid on refinery. Have now
travelled
about 30,000 klms. trouble free in my old Cruiser on the clean fuel.
If any of the list need detail of this, E-mail me at
cactuscards1@optusnet.com.au Cheers old Bob.
Email: bobcolee@yahoo.com