An Introduction To Biodiesel
Author: Mike Cubert

First things first: the information contained below on making
biodiesel is not meant to provide you with a complete and
thorough enough education on the subject for you to go out and
make your own biodiesel without any further study. It is
imperative that you recognize from the outset that making
biodiesel involves chemicals and chemical reactions which can
be quite dangerous if dealt with improperly.

With that in mind, please consider the following to be a
general introduction to the process of making biodiesel, with
the implicit agreement that if you decide to make your own
biodiesel, you do a bit more research on the subject before
beginning.

That said, we start with your ingredients, divided into the
stages of the process of making biodiesel in which you will
need them:

Mixture

• Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) – used cooking oil, lard, animal
fat, fryer grease;
• Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) – that's lye or caustic soda, dry
only;
• Methanol (CH3OH) – at least 99% pure;

Titration

• Isopropyl/Rubbing Alcohol – again, at least 99% pure;
• Phenolphthalein Solution – kept out of the sunlight and no
more than 1 year old;
• Distilled Water;

Washing

• Water
• Vinegar

Here is a brief rundown of the process of transterification,
also known as making biodiesel:

1. Filter WVO;

Warm it up to about 95° F or until it runs freely. Then run it
through a canteen- or restaurant-type coffee filter or a double
layer of cheesecloth set into a funnel. This removes any food
scraps and other solids.

2. Remove water;

This is an optional, but highly advisable, step in making
biodiesel. Leaving in the water in your WVO can slow down the
chemical reaction and cause the formation of soap. Heat your
WVO to 212° F (100° C) and let the water boil off. As the
boiling begins to slow, raise the temperature up to 265° F
(130° C) and let it stay there for 10 more minutes. Then remove
it from the heat, and set it aside to cool.

3. Titration (revealing how much catalyst will be needed);

This is an integral step in making biodiesel as it will tell
you how much sodium hydroxide (lye or caustic soda) you'll need
to use. It is this step alone that is the most critical and
complicated part of making biodiesel, so do not begin until you
feel confident that you understand titration completely.

In summary, you'll make a solution out of 1 g completely dry
lye thoroughly dissolved in 1 l distilled water. Being vigilant
that this sample remains uncontaminated, place it in a reaction
vessel where it can be warmed and stirred.

Meanwhile mix in a separate container 10 ml rubbing alcohol and
1 ml of your filtered, heated, and cooled WVO. Add 2 drops
phenolphthalein (a pH tester indicating the acidity or
alkalinity of a given substance).

Now's where making biodiesel gets really delicate. You'll next
add a single drop at a time of this mixture into your mixed and
heated titration sample, keeping careful count of each and every
drop. You're looking for the combination that gives you a pH of
8-9 (a light purple color).

A mathematical equation comes next, in a nutshell:

•# of ml titration derives X # of liters of WVO being
transterified + 3.5 g lye for every liter of fresh (unused)
vegetable oil to be used

Then, once you've determined the ratio, do the titration again
to confirm your results. Remember, measure twice and get the
mix right the first time.

4. Prepare Sodium Methoxide;

Mix an amount of methanol equal to about 15-20% of the weight
of your WVO with sodium hydroxide (lye) to make sodium
methoxide. If the previous step was the most complicated and
intricate, this step is the most dangerous. Avoid inhaling any
vapors and protect your skin, which this chemical can burn.

Also be careful what type of container you use to hold your
sodium methoxide mixture as it can corrode paints, while lye
reacts poorly with tin, zinc, and aluminum. For the purposes of
making biodiesel, stick with glass, stainless steel, or enamel.

5. Heat WVO again, stirring in Sodium Methoxide;

Heat WVO to 120-130° F and mix in Sodium Methoxide stirring
(preferably with a machine like a paint stirrer) for the better
part of an hour.

6. Let the biodiesel mixture settle (removing the glycerine);

Making biodiesel properly requires that you let it sit and cool
for no less 8 hours. Your mixture will separate into 2 layers:

• your esters (biodiesel)
• soap (waste)

7. Wash and dry biodiesel;

Removing the soap waste.

8. Check the quality of your biodiesel;

See our companion article to on "How to Test the Quality of
Biodiesel" at
http://biodiesel.biogreenlife.com/20/how-to-test-the-quality-of-biodiesel/.


Once you make your own biodiesel for the first time, you will
surely discover how rewarding an experience it can be. And once
you start using the biodiesel you make, you'll find it even more
so. Making biodiesel can liberate you from oil dependency and
rising gas costs. Just remember to learn more about the process
than the summary information contained in this article before
you get started making biodiesel for the first time.


About The Author: Biodisel is clean, renewable, cheap and
becoming popular. The best part is that it's very easy to make
it at home. Go to
http://biodiesel.biogreenlife.com/category/howto/ to learn all
the biodiesel making steps.