Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I am sorry I do not have a hard copy of the paper I wrote on coconut oil blends used in a Lister Petter Generator set for a 1000 hour trial.

But here is the reference FWIW! Doh!

http://www.amazon.ca/Coconut-Diesel-Com ... 0859542661

Tenix,
Would you care to start a thread on your gasifier?
I am most interested.

Tony

I like the idea of a gasifier thread!

I had a job with a 4 HP side valve engine and compact charcoal gasifier in NE Thailand in the 80's. The engine was used for irrigation. The project was a sucess!

The Thai village people were amazing! The most lovely people you could ever wish to stay with!

Gasifiers .... They work ... are a lot of work ... and are dirty!

The correct circumstances are the key to this WWII technology!

Careful consideration of the application, site. availiability, safety, training etc. etc.. is the key.

If this is not carefully thought out ... and suited to the dynamics and infrastructure, politics and markets of the location even small gasifiers can spell absolute disaster to poor people in village situations!

Backyard gasifiers in Aus are OK as a hobby... Kewl!

However when village livelihoods depend on it .. it becomes a VERY serious matter of survival! So EVERYTHING needs to be carefully planned!

A wonderfully working gasifier in the wrong place at the wrong time can cause a hell of a lot of pain, suffering, heartache and hunger despite the well meaning of the donors or funding agency!

IMHO, extremely careful socio-ecomomic and scientific and technical and political expertise must be called on before a gasifier is installed in any developing, rural village co-operative situation in developing countries. It is all too easy to upset the balance!

At the grass roots level , good ideas are plenty ... making them work ... is not impossible ... on paper looks good, maybe easy!

In the field however maybe a different story emerges... even if all goes super smoothly ... but even this can be a village disaster!

Care and foresight is called for!

Been there ... done that!

GOLD.

What is the best (read environmental and economical) way of drying ?

i have a book about gasifiers i bought from here, http://www.lindsaybks.com/ i may someday build one. i think solar is prolly best for me right now.

The best way of drying is to prevent water entering the system.
"An Ounce of Prevention is worth a ton of Cure"

If you use the caustic and water to saponify the FFA in the oil, you could:

• If you have free water, drain it off.
• Centrifuge out the majority of the water. (water SG = 1.0, oil SG~0.85),
• You could heat the oil to around 10°C above ambient and pump the oil thru a spray nozzle to expose more oil to the air, allowing evaporation of the water.
• You could use a vacuum to cause the water to evaporate from the oil,
• You could heat the oil to above 100°C WHILE AGITATING, to boil off the water.
• You could remove the water using drying agents like lime. This could possibly also be used to reduce the FFA content of the oil (I am not a chemist).

I prefer to use the oil without letting it sit too long. If I suspect that oil has been contaminated with water, I pour it in with about 20% by volume biodiesel by-product and agitate for 5 minutes then allow it to settle out. This also tends to retain the high melting point oils with the by-product, as well as the water.

It is up to you to determine which is best for you. Some people have more access to equipment and to environmentally benign sources of power than other people.

Regards,
Tony

thanx tony. will cross that bridge when i come to it

i would have no problem using N2 to fill the airspace after drawing off the oil to as to prevent moisture and air getting in.

Forgive the stupid question, but wouldnt the water just separate from the oil if left to sit, or is it a FFA thing?

I would think the same thing Steve. Also when you mix your caustic and water back into the oil to do the de-esterfication process you will be drawing off any water when you decant it from the mixing vessel.
Kevin

One job i had to do once was empty a sump oil tank from under and old garage the old bloke said it hadent been touched for 40 years when we started pumping the bottom 2 ft was alljunk then it started to clear so we lifted the pump pipe up a ft result 8000 galls of nice clean oil .I also traveled 100.000 km in a land cruiser on diesel that had been pumped from old service station tanks using the settling method [and never changed a filter] So in short yes given time it will settle .

i was watching welding vids, when i saw this. looks interesting, but not much detail on how it works. gonna have to find out more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cx9uoixk ... er&search=

I drive one of these. Chuggachuggachugga Though mine has a turbo.
Huge amount of space inside and built like a tank.
I bought it with intentions of converting to wvo. Have not had the time or money yet to do it...Living in a very cold climate I need to invest a decent amount in the fuel line heating system to make it usable. For Mercedes specific kits this page has some good stuff: (the site is under some redevelopment so not everything is there.
http://www.greaseon.com/chassis_catalog.html

Still I love my 300td! Soon you shall drink grease, old girl...soon

Steve,
Not a stupid Q, the free water will settle from the liquid oil, but there will be some dissolved water which doesn't settle out. Heating will allow more to settle, but much will remain in the oil, which is why I make the other recommendations to increase the amount of oil surface exposed to the air.

mokevinb,
If you are making biodiesel (transesterification), any water in the process will cause an increase in soap production and a reduction in yield.

raimiuso,
I am using a Hose On Hose, fuel line configuration, where my fuel hoses are in close proximity to coolant hoses and the bundle is insulated to maximise heat transfer to the oil during the passage from the tank to the engine. I also have a coolant/fuel heat exchanger to heat the oil before it enters the IP.
I am conscious of potential for copper pipe fracturing, so I now do not use copper pipe to carry coolant or to separate coolant and fuel in my vehicles. Steel pipes in the fuel tank can be used to carry coolant through the tank as a heat exchanger. My tank has copper pipe brazed to the underside to transfer heat to the tank and thence to the oil. This does not heat the oil rapidly, but in 2 hours of driving, the tank has heated from 15°C to 40°C, enduring that any high melting point oils are melted and mixed with the other oils in the tank.

F&F, even diesel can hold dissolved water.

Water is not recommended as a component of diesel fuel, despite the oil industry promoting diesel/water blends. The only ways I want to add water to my engine are:
1. to the coolant system, or
2. As a mist in the air inlet to the engine as a water injection system.


Regards,
Tony

:drool: now THAT i could talk about!

Are there benefits for diesel engine as well? didn't know that. via the same reasons or completely different.?

What about gas injection for diesels? When I was researching WVO for diesels a while back there were a few people pushing gas conversions for diesels. From what I could work out, gas was injected into the cylinders with the diesel, and this was supposed to increase efficiency and power.

Any one know anything about it?