Member converts to Bio-diesel

[karl webster]

Sounds like we need another chat Nathan

 

[nathanrobo]

Karl, these new improvements have come from experiments on my mates machine. They are mostly about making your life easier and lower cost! Give me a call when you get a mo!

Btw I've given up trying to get a stainless tank already made, but I am going to see a guy in Beds about fabricating one to see if it's viable. So I should be able to let you know about my plant by the end of the week! I've already bought 3 new processor pumps and acquired another two 2nd hand (stuart pumps). If it goes ahead, it's gonna bit a work of art ha ha!

 

[karl webster]

Just an small update.

Ive done around 1200miles on bio now and so far all good. The amount of difference it is compared to running waste oil is huge. With the waste oil in the morning when starting it would always be in the back of my mind "will it start". With the bio it's instant.Starts no different than a truck on diesel. That in itself tells me that its a good start to what I'm making.Little more smoke than I would like when cold starting but the more I make the better I will get.

So far so good.and the savings are looking good. For me it really is a no brainer and can only sing Nathan's praises for the help.

 

[karl webster]

Forgot to add.

Ive had one issue so far. When the outside temp dropped I hadn't bothered to put anti wax additive in the fuel as I thought I'd see how it went without. I had issues now I add it as and when I see fit.

 

[grantw]

Nathan, out of curiosity did you end up putting a price together for all the kit on the one drum versions?

Thanks,
Grant

 

[nathanrobo]

Nathan, out of curiosity did you end up putting a price together for all the kit on the one drum versions?

Thanks,
Grant

I'd say that an all in one would be £850 excluding the centrifuge and polishing kit. I'd need to assemble one with all the pipework and add pumps to confirm. I reckon that to add each additional tank (separate drying / polishing or dewatering) costs about £100 for the conical tank, plus a pump at around £70, plus pipework and fittings, maybe £300 total and the polishing kit would be £330 for the centrifuge kit including all of the hydraulic fittings and hydraulic gear pump (mates rate) and £78 for the polishing / drying pot.

So you could start with an all in one at £850, have a fuge with a separate lid for £408, then if you wanted to separate out the processes for greater capacity in year two after you've save a packet.

Compare this with a system like golden ray which would set you back £1800 without any real polishing and without the safety of being able to seal the fumes in during the reaction. Not sure about the tower for removing soaps but this would not be critical with polishing. These towers can be expensive, but if you are opportunistic (ebay and such you could add one). Non of the so called manufactured systems have drywash towers included. To put it in context my fuel without passing it through hardwood shavings is around 70 - 100ppms, with it is zero ppms. The ASTM standard is 66ppm and it's generally accepted that as high as 200ppm won't cause an issue. The new methods of neutralising and then mixing in acetone prior to pump washing are leading to consistently low soaps anyway.

If I was to assemble a system, the first would need a bit of flexibility if it went slightly over budget.

 

[karl webster]

One thing to think of Grant if setting up is the total cost. The money Nathan is talking works out around the cost of 9 tanks of fuel.

 

[nathanrobo]

Guys... anyone know a well priced fabricator of stainless steel stuff? Looking for a conical tank with sealed domed top with a 2" nipple on the bottom about 450 litres?

The guy that I was hoping would sort it, has suddenly gotten very busy. Down to my last 500 litres of fuel.

 

[ModelMakerMan]

You could try RGS sheet metal in Burnley. I used to work for them and they were pretty good on price: [email protected] Tel 01282 835 370 tell them Southern Dave recommended them.

 

[grantw]

Thanks guys - Definitely interested in this at some point. Funding is a little lacking though and I don't do all that many miles currently.

 

[nathanrobo]

You could try RGS sheet metal in Burnley. I used to work for them and they were pretty good on price: [email protected] Tel 01282 835 370 tell them Southern Dave recommended them.

Thanks for that, I've sent an email and I'll follow up with a call.

Best regards

Nathan

 

[nathanrobo]

Progress! New plant designed with most of the features of the existing plus, quad core condenser, eductor (to cope with mixing the large volume in sensible times), plus a venturi for pulling in meth and drying (I'm thinking of washing and drying in the processor, given it's size. It's gonna have a dual cone sealed from the vessels internals, this will have water in to heat the oil. No contact with the heater element, means the element will stay clean.

What du think?

 

[Graham]

Looks very compact so far,
Guessing the pump and valves will be mounted in the under-space?

Gra.

 

[nathanrobo]

Graham

Pumps will be on brackets welded tween the legs. There'll be lockable lever ball valves underneath (pull feedstock in on the pumps suction), there will also be a 1" venturi on the side and a meth mixing tank on the side of the processor with a mixing handle in the top. I'm hopefully future proofing it to cope with some of the newer processes we're playing with at the moment. I've costed it up and it's made me gulp a bit (mostly the cost of the tank being SS). Anyway, I'll post pics as we go so it can easily be copied

 

[nathanrobo]

I recently opened the last drum of stored fuel and somehow it had gotten water in past the lid (fuel was cloudy rather than crystal clear). Anyway the couple of vids below show how simple the spray bar / ring for drying water washed fuel is. In the first video I've used a torch to show the mist evaporating. On the 2nd video you get a clearer look at how the spray bar works.

http://

http://

As you can see the construction is fairly basic stuff that you can do at home in your shed, which is the same for the overall construction of the processor.

The one slight improvement over the machine that Karl has is that the spray bar / ring is set lower down so there is less spray over the side. The earlier pic shows a stainless tower, which can be used to divert some of the flow, so that you can control the amount of spray.

 

[nathanrobo]

We're nearly there with the new processor. Been to see it today and it's huge, nearly 2.4 mtrs tall including the pipework for the condensor.

http://s1030.photobucket.com/user/n... batch reactor/StainlessSteelreactor.jpg.html


http://s1030.photobucket.com/user/n...ess 380 litre batch reactor/IMG_2842.jpg.html

 

[warrenpfo]

looking very smart, im still very interested

 

[nathanrobo]

looking very smart, im still very interested

When it's here and up and running in a couple of weeks, you're very welcomed to come and take a look.

I went to see it last weekend and added an inline heater in SS, so that's added a few more days (unusually this will have a water jacketed - double cone that heats water rather than the traditional immersion element directly into the oil).

Here's a pic of it with the pumps on:



This is the top where the inspection hatch and pipework to the Eductors will go - the condenser will be attached in the centre (the tank in the background is my mate's slightly smaller processor).



This is the inside

 

[nathanrobo]

Finally picked it up on Thursday, a bit of configuring and it will be ready for the first reaction. Oh gotta finish building the shed (gone a bit OTT, built in brick with cavity wall - insulated, electrics, tiled pitched roof).

Another week and I'll be ready for demonstrations.

 

[Graham]

That looks fantastic.
I am sure you will be making top notch bio in no time.

I can't remember the price you mentioned of the "all in" finished liter of bio?

Looking forward to first batch making report.

Gra.