t's easy to make a small batch of biodiesel that will work inary diesel engine. You don't need any spectal equipment — an old juice bottle will serves the “reactor” vessel — and on such a small scale you can quickly refine your technique and perform further experiments. After a few liters worth of experience, you'll know if you've been bitten by the biodiesel bug. The principle behind biodieseling is to take vegetable oil (either new or used). and process itinto a fuel that's thin enough to spray froma regular diesel engine's fuel-injection system. This is, done chemically, by converting the oll into two types of compounds: biodiesel, which shares the original of’s combus- tibility, and glycerin, which retains the oil's thick, viscous properties. Drain away the glycerin, and you're left with a fuel that you can pour into any diesel vehicle with no further modification Once you get to the far side of the learning curve, making biodieselis very muchiike cooking. In fact, a commercial biodiesel production plant shares more in common with a large-scale bakery thana petroleumrefinery, There's organic chemistry involvedin baking, a cake, but most bakers wouldn't con- sider themselves organic chemists 6B Wore viurecd BIODIESEL. CHEITUSTRY ‘Vegetable oll isa triglyceride, which means that its molecule consists ofa glycorin “backbono” with throe fatty acids attachot ‘forming a shape like a capital letter E.Te make biodiesel, we adel Iye and methanol. The highly caustic lye breaks the three fatty acid branches off of the glycerin backbone. These free fatty acids then bon with the methanol, which turns them into fatty acid methy! asters — othorwise known as biodlosel. The froed glyecrin, which is heavier, sinks to the bottom, leaving the fuel (ane! lye) on top. Wash the lye out of the upper layer, and you have pure biodiesel But it's not that simple. With some triglyeeride molecules only one or two fatty-acid branches break off, which leaves mono- or dl-lyceride molecules (shaped like capital Ts or Fs), rather than {roo glycorin. At the same time, mixing methanol and lye produces some water —and oil, water. ane lye mixed together make soap. With all of these incomplete and competing chemical reactions, ‘your batch will inevitably contain soap, water, laftover lye, methanol. and mono” and diglycerides, along with the nice biodiesel and glye arin, Mono- and di-lycorides are emulsifiers, so thy prevant mixod liquids from separating, making it harder to extract biodiesel. The Picture gets even mucdier when youuse waste vegetable oll rather ‘than pure oll since it contains free fatty aids, ator. and countless. random contaminants from al those French fries, ‘These by-products are bad for an engine, potontially causing mmicrovabrasions that damage fuel injectors or clog fuel filters. But you can remove them by washing or cooking the biodiesel in various ‘ways, or by processing the incompletely converted biodiesol agai as iF it were vegetable ol. In extreme cases, you'l end up with a thick, soapy mass that never separates. All biodieselers wind up witha batch of this glop sooner or later, Fortunately, you can use it ‘tomake a good, grease-cutting soap — which is something that all biodiesel homebrewers need to have on hand. Photography by Sara HustonMATERIALS ial Either now or waste vogotab/eallisfine. fyouaro using waste al try making batches wih samples fromaflerert restaurants’ grease barrels el Sod at auto partestores. You can by larger quantities in bulk from loca! autoracing sunol ers, petroleum cistibutars, and ‘chemical suppliers ter Carried by the same etalersas methanol. You wor't need ‘much of ths, even if youstart maki nglarger batenes, m1 NaOH is widely available as Red Dev Lye crain cleaner. You ‘can buy KOH from ocal soapmaking and tanning raft suppl- fr.orfram, (el ‘valable fom beer anciwinemaking and lab chemical sup- pliars. Also contained in mary educational chomistry sol. Should ne fresh (Fl Used for washing thetuel (a ‘Toreutrave discarded ye TOOLS 1 vtilale at some-tobacco and"hesdsnens.orleak ora triplo-boam scale at pawnstions and flea markats. a [Graduated eyedropners and aral syringes ave avaiable in crugsteres, sometimes withthe baby suapls, You'll use these for diferent chemicals that you shoulen’t mxup,so it helps to get one syringe and ane eyed-opper 0 od wu om m1 9ot Hours over Three Days Complexity: Low FILTER AND DE-WATER = YOUR OIL I you're using new oil, you can skip to Step #2. But if you're starting with waste oll from a restaurant fryer, it wll contain food particles, water, and free fatty acids (FFAs) — contaminants that you need to remove or adjust for. The FFAs make the oll more acidic, (aka. rancid), which counters the effect of the lye. You can compensate {or this by adding more lye into the main reaction later, but youneed to perform attitration test beforehand in order to determine how mach extra lye you'll need. 1a. Start with more than one liter of oll, since the following steps vill sightly reduce your cil’s volume. Warm the oil to about 95°F in apot onan electric hot plate (don't use a gas burner, here or anywhere else in this project), then fitter it through a few layers of cheese- cloth ina funnel (or use coffee filter), Ub, Heat theoil to M0°Fand maintain the temperature for 15 minutes, The water will fall to the bottom, so you'l risk steam explosions ifthe temperature gets toohigh. Pour thecilinto abottle or other vessel and lot it settle for at least 2&.hours, This removes water, which Would produce soap in your batch. If you ‘see water at thebottom (it willbe dirty, not clear), don’tpour it back outwith the ol 70 Wore Naureed BIODIESEL HOMEBREWING SAFETYBB wstvouron Determining the acidity of the vegetable oil 2a, Dissolve one gram of lye in one liter of distilled water (0.1% lye solu tion), or use an equivalent ratio to mount. This is your fence test solution, which you can store s batches, led and re-use for later 2b. Ine small ar, dissolve 1m| of slightly warm cil in 10m ef isopropyl! alcohol. Stir until clear, then add two drops of phenolphthalein sokition, 2c. Using a greduated syringe or dropper. add your reference test solution drop-by-drop into the oil solution, keeping track of how much you're using, The more acidic theoll, the more you'll need to add Stir constantly, and continue adding solution until the mixture stays pink for ten seconds. Note the number of milliliters of lye solution you used: this is the number of ext lye you'll need to adkd per liter of ol ‘This process is called “titration,” and it’s a stare dard method of determin Ing a solution's act ote 7eer Bay, Process THe on 1 This is the main chemical reaction that produces the biodiesel a. Determine how much lye you need. If you're using new oil, use 5 grams af NaOH or 7 grams of KOH per liter. With used ol, use these amounts plus one gram for every milliliter of solution you used! in the titration step 2c. For example, fit took 1.5m of lye solution to turn the mixture pink, use 6.5g of NaOH or 8.5g ot KOH. ‘3b. Measure your lye into a clean Mason jar. Add 220ml of methanol cover securely, and tip the jar to make sure the lid doesn’t leak. Then swirl or shake the jar gently until the lye dissolves fully. This will takea few minutes, and the jar will become slightly warm in the process. This mixture is the methoxide solution. andit’s dangerous stuff: you'll need towash the Mason jar lid after you're done with your batch, or its seal will dissolve. (Some regular homebrewers prepare methoxide ahead of time and storeit in #2 HDPE plastic.) 3c. Warm a iter of your oll up to130°F. Letit cool down if the temperature gets too high. 3d. Pour the ollinto a large bottle, add the methoxide solution, cap tightly. and shake like crazy for about five minutes. The contents might change color a couple of times, Be. Set this mixture aside, and admire In half an hour or s0,you should see a darker, dirty, glycerin layer start to sink toward the bottom, anda larger. lighter, Biocleset layer rise to the top. This is @ good time to clean up. If you're sure your bottle wor't leak, you ‘may want to let it settle upside-down, ‘so you can drain the glycerin out by cracking the bottlecap. Or you can lay it sideways to make iteasier to pour off the biodiesel 3f, Lot the liquids continue to settle overnight: 72 Wore Naurecd