START SMALL!

You WILL make mistakes. Mistakes are good! There is a learing curve.

Just remember to be patient and carefull.

Your first batch, Step by Step
(Start small)

List of materials you will need;
1. Containers of some kind. (The size will be determined by the size of your batches) graduated in liters.
2. Waste Vegetable oil or animal fat.
3. A 2oz shot glass
4. Sodium Hydroxide (lye, also known as drain opener). This will need to be as pure as you can get it. Not less than 95%. Granular, not liquid.
5. Disposable eye dropper.
6. The spice Turmeric.
7. Some way to stir the mixture for one hour. An electric drill with a paint stirrer works well, if your batch is big enough.
8. A scale capable of measuring accurately to .5 grams.
9. Methanol (racing alcohol), enough for a 22% ratio to your oil, by volume.
10. Isopropyl alcohol.
11. 1 gallon of distilled water.
12. Syringes, graduated in milliliters.
13. Some way to warm the oil for your reaction to 100-110 degrees F
These safety items are a MUST! Remember, you are dealing with some harsh chemicals, protect yourself.
1. Rubber gloves
2. Apron
3. Safety Goggles

Basic formula for Biodiesel Production
(Virgin oil)

Oil Methanol Sodium Hydroxide
1 Liter (oil) + 22%, by volume (methanol) + 5gr. per liter of oil (sodium hydroxided)
=
Biodiesel (and glycerin)

You will need more Sodium Hydroxide for used cooking oil

Collection of used oil.

Depending on your anticipated usage amount, this will vary.
• Find a restaurant (or other source) that will give you their waste oil. Most places are still paying to get rid of it and will gladly “give” it to you if you provide the containers and make it convenient for them.
• The type of oil really doesn’t matter; just try to keep the water out of it.
• It can be a mixture of animal fat and/or vegetable oil.
• Even pure animal fat will work.
• NOTE: Do NOT take it out of a contracted waste oil container. They frown on the rather heavily!

Titration

Titration is the process of determining the amount of Free Fatty Acids contained in your oil. This is an extremely important step. A mistake here could result in an incomplete or failed reaction.

1. The first step is to mix your lye/water solution.
a. Dissolve 1 gram of lye into 1 liter of distilled water.
b. Cap and set aside.
2. Measure out about 1 ounce of the Isopropyl alcohol into the shot glass.
3. Into your alcohol, put a pinch of the Turmeric. The alcohol will turn yellow. This will be your indicator.
4. With one of the syringes, measure out EXACTLY 1 milliliter of the oil you have collected.
5. While stirring the alcohol, add the oil and stir for proximately 30 seconds.
6. While continuing to stir the oil alcohol mixture, add the lye/water solution one drop at a time with the eyedropper.
7. Count the drops of solution you add. Keep adding the solution until the oil alcohol turns red and stays read for 30 seconds. Numbers in the 90’s are not uncommon.
8. Once you have the number of drops counted. Use this formula to determine the amount of lye you will need for your reaction.

(#of drops counted) X .047 = (amount of additional lye) + 5gr. (base amount) = Total lye needed per liter of oil

Example;

78 drops X .047 = 3.67 + 5 = 8.67 grams of lye per liter of oil.

Your titration is complete and you are now ready for your reaction.

Warm the Used Cooking Oil
1. Start your used cooking oil warming to 100-110 degrees F.

Preparing your Meth-oxide.

1. Measure out your methanol. 22% by volume.
2. Pour it in your container you are going to use for your reaction.
TIP: Be sure it is large enough to hold the oil AND the methanol!
3. On your scale, measure out the amount of lye determined by the titration step.
4. Add the lye measured out in the previous section.
NOTE: It will take some effort to get the lye to dissolve in the methanol. Take your time.
Once all the lye is dissolved, your meth-oxide is ready to use.

Mixing the solutions

1. Turn on the system you are going to use to stir the oil during the reaction.
2. Add the meth-oxide solution to the warmed oil slowly until it is all added.
3. Cover the container to help keep the methanol from evaporating.
4. Allow this to mix for a minimum of 1 hour undisturbed.

Settling out the glycerin.

1. Shut off your mixer.
2. Let sit covered undisturbed for a minimum of 8 hours.
3. The reaction will form two distinct layers. The top is Biodiesel and the lower layer is the glycerin.

The reaction is complete. If you have two layers, you have a successful reaction. If you have a thick yellowish solution something went wrong. You have made a batch of “glop”. Go back and try it again. Make small batches until you have a good reaction.

This is the basic reaction involving Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO). When you go to make your first large batch, you will need to wash it.

Washing is a process whereby the reaction is stopped, the excess methanol is evaporated, and any remaining suspended glycerin is removed.