Biodiesel | Learn How To Make Your Own Biodiesel From Vegetable Oil

hi my name is Graydon Blair from Utah biodiesel supply and today we're going to make a batch of biodiesel from canola oil it's one of my favorites to make it from because of the gel point properties first of all to make this batch you're going to need some canola oil that can be picked up at a local grocery store some methyl alcohol again local grocery store Otter pot auto parts store this is yellow bottle of heat 100% methyl alcohol some chemicals this is potassium hydroxide you can get this from Utah biodiesel supply i like potassium you can also use sodium hydroxide but potassium likes to dissolve better than ethanol you'll need something to measure out your oil with this goes up to a liter we're going to measure 500 milliliter batch today something to measure out your catalyst with this is a cup and a scale which will use funnel to pour the oil in with and then something to measure the methanol to put catalyst in you'll need a pan to heat the oil with and I've got a burner down here t-that a thermometer to test the temperature of the oil and then something to mix it all in we'll be using jar just a cheap old mason jar and then safety gloves when we're finished this is what our fuel will look like this is a batch I made the other day our first to measure out the oil so we're going to get 500 milliliters of oil and pour it into here and then put it in the pans I'm just going to measure that out and I have a 500 milliliter mark that I'm shooting here for and it's okay if I go a little bit over under but I want to try and get as accurate as I can I then put my oil into my pan turn on the heat put the thermometer in and I can begin moving to the next step the next step is to measure out some methanol this is a brand new bottle yet seal which you want to use so we're going to now measure out a hundred milliliters of methanol get right to our 100 milliliter mark step number three is to the catalyst we've taken out our scale we put our container on top of it and we've used the tare function on our scale to put it to zero so now it's time to measure it out for a 500 milliliter batch we're going to use 3.5 grams of potassium hydroxide it's exactly half of what you'd use in a liter batch very carefully put this into the cup till we get 3.5 we've got a little bit high put some back and that's fine we're 3.55 or just a little bit over it's not a problem it's now time to put the chemical into our methanol for it in the top and slowly start stirring it around until it gets dissolved this will take a little bit of time typically about 10 to 15 minutes as you're waiting for the catalyst to dissolve into the methanol it's a good idea to check the temperature of your oil we're sitting right at about 91 degrees Fahrenheit which is getting up there our goal is to eat up to about 130 degrees for this mini batch your oil is too temperature you'll take it off the heat and put it in the jar being careful not to burn yourself and then get ready to make the biodiesel the next step is to take your dissolved methanol and put it into your heated biodiesel it's important that you don't put it in when the temperatures to warm I check this you want it to be under about 130 degrees Fahrenheit we'll put this in you'll notice the color change is almost immediate is that methanol sits on the top and I'm going to just start shaking that and you'll notice it will go through various color changes in the next few minutes I'm going to shake it for about five minutes rather aggressively after you've mixed it for about five minutes just set it somewhere and let it sit for a bit it needs to sit for about 24 hours wear it fully settle out this biodiesel is also made from new oil and you'll notice that the biodiesel on top almost went clear there's a middle layer of glycerin and then this white layer is because this has been sitting in a cold area and the biodiesel is actually gelling right on the bottom if I was to remove all the glycerin and let this cool all the way this would actually gel all the way to a cloudy color but this is what your biodiesel is typically going to look like you'll get this separation on the bottom clear on top and this middle layer should be crystal clear if it's not cold in your area after you remove the glycerin from your biodiesel you'll have biodiesel on top and as you let it sit for a couple days it will begin to become crystal clear this is biodiesel again that we made from canola oil a while ago and as you can see you can see right through it to recap we took 500 milliliters of oil mixed it with 100 milliliters of methanol 3.5 grams of potassium hydroxide mix the methanol and the potassium hydroxide together heated the oil to a hundred and thirty degrees Fahrenheit mixed it all together and we had biodiesel and this is what it looks like when it's done you can make biodiesel from any organic oil that you find such as peanut oil soybean oil canola oil safflower palm you name it long as it's organic you can make biodiesel out of it if you'd like to learn more about making biodiesel visit Utah biodiesel supply at Utah by accom

Channel: Utah Biodiesel Supply

Views: 295,370

Rating: 4.8810964 out of 5

Keywords: biodiesel, bio, diesel, utahbiodiesel, utahbio, supply, vegetable, oil, koh, production, small, batch, potassium, hydroxide, alternative, fuel, straight, making, brewing, catalyst

Id: 9-SaPRccSDE

Length: 7min 24sec (444 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 15 2009