What a summer!

Well I've had issues one after another! First the pump on the Jerry Rig II died 5 minutes into a new batch. The 24.5 gallon batch sat for over a month in the sealed processor and after replacing the pump had an incomplete reaction. Think I just have to re-titrate and do it again. Processor is loaded with another fresh 24.5 gallons and ready to brew again.

OH WAIT! Car problems! Had a shift linkage break on the shifter cable that only left me 3rd and 4th gear. Finally got that fix but know I have seals that have gone bad on my injection pump causing leaks and inability to start the Bug. With the help from the folks over at tdiclub.com I have a seal kit on the way and plan on working on that this weekend.

OH...I forgot to mention I added a second processor that now enables me to process nearly 50-80 gallons at a time. Here's a picture of the addition.

After some thinking and searching for a possible solution to my pump upgrade I stumbled upon the discussion and use of eductors as a way of increasing the mixing efficiency of large volumes of liquid with existing small pumps. The basic concept is that the liquid is pumped through a smaller orifice, thus creating a high pressure stream, which is shot down the center of a surrounding shroud. The back of the shroud is open allowing for the high pressure stream to create a vacuum. The eductor(s) would be submerged in the bio mix nearly reaching the bottom. Some have designs where the place one at the bottom and one at the near the top.

The eductor has the ability of increasing the mixing capabilities to 3-5 times that of the liquid being pumped. So if this is correct my 5gpm pump would be turned into something like 15-25gpm! Looks like fish pet stores sell them.

Jerry Rig II Update

Jerry Rig II processed 24.5 gallons successfully! Only minor issue was a small leak at the water heater element area. I figured if there were any leaks this would be where it would be, due to a mistake on my part on cutting a hole just a touch to big. I built the processor to low and will have to attach a longer drain hose in order to get good drainage of waste by-product. Also will need to get more powerful pump if I want to process 35-40 gallons.

Will also need to install a second water heater element if I want to preheat the oil faster in the processor. I might look at using the turkey frier to preheat like 5 gallons to 200-300 to help jump start and take a load off of the water heater element. Using the turkey frier I can get those temps in like 20 minutes. But I may go to the second water element in order to prepare for methanol recovery using the same processor, might save this for the spring/summer.

Also revisited testing using sawdust/wood shavings and filtering medium and it seems to work really well! I have friend that gave me some maple sawdust/shavings mixture and it worked great. I'm planning on loading up one of my PVC resin towers with this and test on this batch. Letting the methanol evaporate off as much as possible in order to extend the life of the sawdust and to limit the fire hazard as much as possible. Most likely get to that tomorrow and I'll post report and pictures.

IT'S DONE! Jerry Rig II is done and ready for it's maiden voyage today. Here's a video I posted on YouTube with an overview of the new processor.

Spent part of the morning re-working the 3/4" pipe to connect the WVO collection tank to the processor. Looks like I'll be able to reuse 100% of the pipe and parts from the previous system. I will have to get more parts to create a new method to use multiple injection streams into the processor. Instead of just one stream to mix/agitate I'm designing a system using 4 streams/ports. I'll post pictures or schematic later this weekend.

FINALLY! I've got the Jerry Rig II setup just about ready. I know, I know....it's taken me long enough it's been tough with family and work responsibilities but I'm just about there. Here are some pictures to show the progress.

From Jerry Rig Biodiesel Processor Updates

From Jerry Rig Biodiesel Processor Updates

From Jerry Rig Biodiesel Processor Updates

Yet another update

While waiting for the battery on my riding mower to charge, I decided to begin disassembling Jerry Rig I. Let's all take a moment of silence to honor and recognize all the biodiesel Jerry Rig I created...........ok that's enough.



As you can see by these photos that using the 16 gallon drum was VERY simple. I can say without a doubt had I been driving less than 500 miles a week I would have been still using Jerry Rig I to produce my biodiesel. This is a great size to begin with and easy/inexpensive to build. It also didn't require a whole lot of space to setup either. I've offered up the processor to a group of VW TDI owners to adopt. Lets see what happens.

Progress

Since my last post I've made some progress and should have Jerry Rig II up by mid week. I've finally plumbed the bottom for my WVO collection tank and ready to put it in place. For those going with a stand pipe design you can go to Lowe's and have them add threading to pipe in order for there to be enough thread that comes out of the bottom to attach to needed pipe to connect to system.

Finally found some washers to seal up the hole I slightly made a smidge to big for the electric water heater element.

Aaah..Spring is in the air, time to Brew!

Well, I know I've shirked my duties in keeping the blog updated but man it's tough to find new things to right about! But fear not I have come up with a solution! REGURGITATION!

Yes, that's right re-visiting my experiences but with a slight twist. As you remember I was working on Jerry Rig II to upgrade to a production capacity of 30-35 gallons of finished biodiesel. Well, since I have to reconstruct and rearrange everything I thought I would document the whole thing for all to see. I'm looking forward to it!

On a side note I've been having a hell of a time obtaining lye from Lowes and other retail outlets. I called around to several chemical suppliers and none will do business with individuals without a business license. Would appear that the damn meth heads of made it more difficult for us law bidding citizens to acquire such chemicals. Damn drugtards!! But thanks to the kindness of some fellow brewers I was able to find a couple of sources for getting ahold of some potassium hydroxide(KOH). Wonder if any of the meth heads would sell me some their KOH?

Jerry Rig II Bottom Drain

Ok, after much delay, mostly procrastination, I have begun building Jerry Rig II!

First step was to cut a hole to allow for the insertion of a kitchen sink drain. To cut a hole I just my Dremel with a grinding disc attached. Why a kitchen sink drain you ask?! Well I had read some fellows that had used this technique with great success. Some other reaons:

*No welding needed
*Larger drain area
*Less cost (I'm all about saving money!)

So here are some pictures of my progress so far.

From Jerry Rig II

From Jerry Rig II

Next step is to hammer, pound, the bottom in order to create a bowl shape similar to a wok. By creating slopped sides it will aid in completely draining glycerol and water. I'll also be adding a water heater element to aid in heating up the WVO for the process and possibly for heating up the biodiesel to remove/recover methanol.

Jerry Rig II Update

Well just wanted to share the design of the Jerry Rig II processor with you. I've gathered all the required parts needed and just need to start assembling. I'm guessing should take me 3 nights to get everything assembled.

Water Washing Revisited

Ok, I've taken a detour from the dry wash resin tower, which has been great, to experiment and test something I just read about water washing.  

Up til now I've been using standard tap water from a garden hose and the use of a mister.  Washing would take on average 3-4 days before I was able to use the biodiesel.  I read on the Infopop Biodiesel forum about the use of hot water and static washing as a way to pull out the soap from the processed biodiesel.  So I tested in a small beaker with some very hot water and WOW soap dropped like an anchor within seconds!  I let this sample set and within an hour I had mayonnaise at the bottom of the beaker.  I washed the sample maybe a total of 4 times with  a fraction of the water I would have regularly used.

So I decided to test on a 11 gallon batch to see if the results were the same.   I used the turkey fryer to bring the 3 gallons of water to a boil, overkill most likely and poured it in.  I let the batch settle for a few hours and came back and drained off the soapy water.  I repeated this process 3 times and my biodiesel was perfect!  I think I lucked out on this batch as the oil wasn't as heavily used thus making the soap content less.  On the batch I tested from the Vietnamese place the oil had been used pretty hard and there was a crap load of soap and would have most likely required a few more washes.  But the end result would have still required less water and speed up my washing time.

I will reserve this technique for use on the oil that has been heavily used in order to limit the amount of soap introduced to my resin thereby extending its life.

Latest update

Well, 22 gallons later (2-11 gallon batches) I have had some good results.  These latest batches were done using the 80/20 method and run through the resin towers.  Man I can't say enough about the resin towers!  I can process and have the biodiesel in the car in one day.  No more water! 

On another not I've decided to dump the vietnamese restaurant oil.  The stuff is so over used and nasty that I just don't think it's worth it.  I have found another source, a local doughnut shop that has given me their blessing.  Gonna have to figure out a way of "sucking" oil out of a dumpster.  I know this is questionable at best but I guess I can play dumb and say the owner said I could.

Jerry Rig I out, Jerry Rig II in!

While it's only be a short time that I've been processing using JRI (Jerry Rig I) I've learned a lot!  The greatest lesson is that I need to increase my production output and reduce my time making biodiesel! 

Since I'm logging 600+ miles a week my need has out paced my current capacity of JRI, 10 gallons.  At this rate I have to process every week or twice a week and it seems I'm spending more time processing than with my family.  Not good.  If I were doing city driving I think I would fine but as it is now I'm unable to stay ahead of my consumption.

So, I'm in the planning and building stages of Jerry Rig II, a 55 gallon drum.  This will allow me to process around 30-40 gallons of veg oil.  With this rate I could stay well ahead of my needs and only need to process maybe once a month.  Thereby spending more time with the family.

The JRII will be essentially the same design with one slight modification in the addition of an electric water heater element.  This will allow me to preheat the oil in the processor, compared to using my turkey fryer to do this.  I'll still probably use the turkey fryer to jump start the warming process so as not to have wait and use so much electricity.  The turkey fryer I can heat up 5-7 gallons to 150+ degrees in under 10 minutes.  Now I've got to go find at least one or two more sources of oil!

Planning on modifying JRI to become a methanol recovery system, essentially a still.  I'll be taking some time to research and build that, so as to not blow up my shed!

Jerry Rig Video

Just wanted to share a video of the Jerry Rig Processor in action.  In this video I'm circulating some finished Biodiesel in order to dry it of water from the wash process.

Click here to see video.

First bach of home brew biodiesel

Well with a little bit of patience and help from the net I was able to successfully make two 1 liter batches of biodiesel from clean new peanut oil and used waste vegetable oil. It was rather exciting to see the process happening before my eyes and to pour it into my tank and use it. Only had one little miss hap in that one of my modified caps broke and my biodiesel ended up on the garage floor.

I took pictures of the stages that the oil went through as it turned into biodiesel. When I poured it into the tank I had about 3 gallons left so that turned into about to be a 10% blend. Beginning to make a 5 gallon batch.