Make Your Own Biodiesel Processor by drinkmorecoffee

Transcription

1 Instructables.com Make Your Own Bodesel Processor by drnkmorecoffee Aprl 21, 2008 In a world where envronmental awareness s becomng ncreasngly mportant for ndvduals, busnesses, and manknd as a whole, t's always mportant to be lookng for ways to re-use waste and cut carbon emssons. Bodesel s a great way to do ths. You're reusng waste ol and reducng your mpact on the envronment. Ths Instructable wll take you step-by-step through the process of makng a BoDesel processor. Ths type of Processor s called an appleseed processor. It uses an old (or new f you feel lke droppng the money) water heater. The amount of fuel you can make wll depend on the sze tank you use. My frst prototype uses a 10 gallon tank. Not too effcent f you plan on makng large quanttes, but great for fgurng thngs out. Before you do ths project you should research the process and dangers nvolved n producng bodesel at home. Before you run out and buy $100+ worth of plumbng materals, I should say ths: As bodesel becomes more and more popular the resources avalable become more and more scarce, and people are startng to charge for thngs that used to be free, specfcally Waste Vegetable Ol (WVO). I would suggest securng a source for WVO before you embark on ths project. There are many unspoken rules about gatherng WVO from busnesses, and I can talk about those n another nstructable. For now just know that you CANNOT just take ol, for ths you can get arrested and tred. You also need to be consstent (If you say you'll be there every Tuesday to pck up someone's ol and you show up on Wednesday half the tme people wll often gve your ol to other people). My nstructable on how to use ths processor can be found here.

2 step 1: Do some research Do some research. You can't read too much about bodesel. I spent about a year researchng before I bult ths and started makng fuel. A book that s a must read s Bodesel Bascs and Beyond: A Comprehensve Gude to Producton and Use for the Home and Farm Much of the nformaton you fnd on the nternet (ncludng ths nstructable, no doubt) s ncomplete nformaton. Ths book wll gve you the ns and outs of every step you need to take. Be famlar wth how the process works before you buld a processor. If you understand how t's supposed to operate when t's fnshed, you wll make fewer mstakes when you're buldng t. step 2: Plan Plan, plan, and plan some more. You can't get too detaled n your plannng. Map out every part you'll need, lst the functons of every part, and estmate costs. Nothng would suck more than gettng half way through and realzng you're out of money and you've just blown $130 on half a processor. We made the trp to Lowes about 9 tmes before we had everythng we needed. Here's some pctures of our plannng process, but only a fracton of t; we probably drew ths dagram n a dozen ways a dozen tmes.

3 Tp: Black boards and whte boards come n handy, lke mne, when you;re tryng to get a feel for what you need. Thngs erase easly and you get a larger dagram to concentrate on. I wll nclude some more detaled dagrams of what we dd here soon. step 3: Aqure the necessary parts You wll need a water heater, a pump, and all the plumbng n between. I used a 10 gallon water heater and a 1" water pump from Northern Tool. Be sure that the water heater does not leak and has a workng heat element. The element s very very mportant snce you wll be heatng the ol up pror to makng the fuel. You wll also want to keep t warm when t settles, n addton to when you remove the glycern. You wll need about ten feet of 3/4" clear PVC flexble hose. (+hose clamps) The plumbng materals I used were: -3 tee Jonts 3/4" x 3/4" x 3/4" -2 3/4" Unons (these are so you can dsconnect your pump wthout dsassemblng the whole thng.) -2 1"-3/4" reducer couplngs -1 3/4" 90 degree elbow -7 3/4" Ball valves -11 3/4" x 1.5" male connectors -1 3/4" x 2" male connector -2 1" x 1.5" male connector -4 3/4" to 3/4" Male adapters (Barb to MPT) -2 to 3 lengths of 3/4" ppe (ths depends on the sze of tank you're usng. Lows, the one by me anyways, wll cut and thread ppng for free. Measure twce, so you only have to pay once.) -You wll also need tape to seal each fttng. You're gong to need some way to secure your processor. We used some adjustable straps and some connectors. Certanly you can secure t however you lke, but ths best suted us snce we plan on replacng the tank very shortly.

4 One other thng you'll need to get acquanted wth are carboys. You can some good ones here. You need one wth a cap that has a 3/4" female threaded port. Ths wll make your methoxde mxng tank, so you wll want t to be ar tght. Lastly, you wll need 2 power cords. Or just one f your water heater s already wred. step 4: Start Assemblng Start puttng t together. No doubt you wll have leaks the frst tme you run water through ths, so don't tghten thngs so tght you won't be able to get them apart agan. Start wth the bottom of the processor. Frst attach a ball valve and work your way to where you'll put the pump. TAPE EVERY CONNECTION The three places you use the Tee jonts are essentally dentcal, so I recommend assemblng these before you put them on the rest of what you have. From the tee- connector-> Ball valve->barbed adapter Then t goes--ball valve-> Connector-> Tee jont (assembled)-> connector-> Ball valve-> Connector-> Tee jont (assembled)-> Connector-> Unon-> Connector-> Reducer couplng-> 1" Connector-> Pump-> (now headng up)-> 1" Connector-> Reducer couplng-> Connector-> Unon-> connector-> Tee Jont (assembled)-> Connector-> Ball Valve-> Ppe (length depends on how tall the processor s)-> 90 degree elbow-> Ppe back to processor (agan, the length depends on how far t s to the processor)-> Malleable couplng-> and you're back! Be sure to have the unons dsconnected when you assemble the upper part, then connect them agan to put the pump back on. Ths s a good pont to start thnkng of what to mount t on, and where. Keep n mnd you need a place to dran glycern below the processor, so you'll need t rased some. The last pece to assemble s the carboy ld. Drll a hole where you're supposed to and screw n the connector. Onto ths, add a ball valve and the fourth hose adapter. Be sure that your carboy has a vent behnd the handle, and be sure ths vent s drlled out.

5 step 5: Wre t all Go ahead and wre your pump. A wrng dagram should be ncluded. Wre the Water heater, the next step s testng the element. step 6: Pressure and leak test. Now that you've got t assembled you need to do a pressure test. You can use an ar compressor or you can run water through t, whch s what we dd. Reasons for pressure testng: -test for leaks -gves you an dea of how to use the valves to get lquds where you want them -to test the heatng element -to be sure everythng s facng the rght drecton (the frst tme we hooked t all up the pump was facng the wrong way... oops) Fll a carboy wth water and connect a secton of hose from the carboy to the ntake valve. Use hose clamps to secure the

6 hose. Be sure to have prmed the pump. Now open the valve on the carboy and the ntake valve. Turn on the pump and make sure the glycern dran and out-take valve are both closed, so water doesn't come shootng out. Also be sure that all the valves n the crcut are opened so you don't have any pressure buldng up. At ths pont t s very mportant to have the pressure vent on the tank open. Mark where you see any leaks wth a sharpe. Go ahead and turn on the heatng element, t may take a whle to heat up. Mne ddn't, 7 gallons of water takes just a few mnutes to get hot. You can open the out-take valve whenever you lke to get a sample of the water. Be careful, though, we're talkng hot water here. You can test t wth a quck-read thermometer. When you're fnshed, close the valve nearest the tank and let the pump run a few more mnutes before you turn t off. There's stll some water behnd the pump, so open the glycern dran to dran off the cup or two of water left. Close the next valve over from the dran and open the frst valve. Have somethng to catch the water as t comes out. It's probably stll hot, so be careful dependng on how hot you got the water. One more thng. After testng all ths be sure to open up every connecton and let t dry. You don't want a drop of water n there when you make your fuel. step 7: Mount t Now t's tme to mount t. You may fnd t useful to dsconnect the pump at the unons when you're movng t around. You

7 can mount t however you want, and t doesn't have to be able to move, but you do want t rased some so you can dran stuff. We mounted ours on an exstng wooden box, just because we had t. We just took some plywood, screwed some 2x4's onto that, and attached some wheels to the 2x4's. Two of the wheels are lockng,so t won't roll down my drveway, slde around, or generally escape us. We screwed the pump nto a board on top of the box and used adjustable straps to secure the tank. In my next Instructable I wll explan how to use ths processor. In the mean tme, buld one!