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Hi Jamie,
The test batches I made are a pretty standard process.
I used about a liter of old rancid cooking oil (unused), a few hundred ml's of methanol and a few grams of lye (sodium hydroxide - red devil drain cleaner).
Specifically for unusued oil, it is 5 parts oil and 1 part methanol so 1 liter oil with 200ml of methanol and 3.5 grams of lye. It 'may' be 4:1 ratio on oil/methanol...can't recall off hand. Anyway, with used oil, you have to do a titration (micro batch) to see how much lye you need..maybe 4-6 grams for the above amounts.
Mixing methanol and lye until pretty homogenous and lye is dissolved...then blend that to the oil until homogenous...blender helps and so does some heat. Never reuse blender for food.
Then pour that mix into some container...I used glass jars....after about 8 hours, the lye has acted as a catalyst to break the fat and oil apart...at the bottom you will have the glycerine settled (soap) and on the top is the more clear and liquidy biodiesel.
You can Siphon the biodiesel off the top of if you have a container with a drain on the bottom, you can drain out the glycerine leaving only biodiesel behind.
You can take that biodiesel and use as it or to refine it more, wash it with water... add equal parts water to the top of the biodiesel through a shower type spout so you get finer droplets....that water will catch onto fats and other stuff and settle at the bottom...after a while, you'll have the water on the bottom with stuff it caught and more pure biodiesel on top.
Literally, the process is as simple as described above. It can be washed 2-3 times if desired but not usually needed...just make sure if using used oil that it is filtered really well so no particles of junk is in the mix.
The test batches I made are a pretty standard process.
I used about a liter of old rancid cooking oil (unused), a few hundred ml's of methanol and a few grams of lye (sodium hydroxide - red devil drain cleaner).
Specifically for unusued oil, it is 5 parts oil and 1 part methanol so 1 liter oil with 200ml of methanol and 3.5 grams of lye. It 'may' be 4:1 ratio on oil/methanol...can't recall off hand. Anyway, with used oil, you have to do a titration (micro batch) to see how much lye you need..maybe 4-6 grams for the above amounts.
Mixing methanol and lye until pretty homogenous and lye is dissolved...then blend that to the oil until homogenous...blender helps and so does some heat. Never reuse blender for food.
Then pour that mix into some container...I used glass jars....after about 8 hours, the lye has acted as a catalyst to break the fat and oil apart...at the bottom you will have the glycerine settled (soap) and on the top is the more clear and liquidy biodiesel.
You can Siphon the biodiesel off the top of if you have a container with a drain on the bottom, you can drain out the glycerine leaving only biodiesel behind.
You can take that biodiesel and use as it or to refine it more, wash it with water... add equal parts water to the top of the biodiesel through a shower type spout so you get finer droplets....that water will catch onto fats and other stuff and settle at the bottom...after a while, you'll have the water on the bottom with stuff it caught and more pure biodiesel on top.
Literally, the process is as simple as described above. It can be washed 2-3 times if desired but not usually needed...just make sure if using used oil that it is filtered really well so no particles of junk is in the mix.