We have biodiesel!

I've been remiss on my blogging the last couple months. We have made a couple batches of biodiesel now which passed testing... so the fuel is ready to burn! I'm going to step back and talk about what's happened since my last post at the end of January.

Eddie Bernard, Wet Dog Glass owner, donated an air compressor to use in the plant. We need compressed air on the venturi pump to pull a vacuum on the reactor tank to recovery any methanol not reacted. Additionally, a sparging ring is near the bottom of the wash tank to facilitate both washing and drying processes. Nick from the glass studio, Adam and Steve-O were a huge help in running the air line from the compressor's new home in the batch glass room down to biodiesel. It is great to have such knowledgeable and helpful people around to get things done well!

With the air lines run and the veggie oil I had collected, we were finally able to get rolling. David Thornton and some of his interns from Piedmont Biofuels came down to train me on the equipment and procedures. Over the last couple weeks, we went through the process of reaction and cleaning and refining of the biodiesel. We now have over 400 gallons of biodiesel! Here's a shot of the sight glass at the bottom of the wash tank showing some gorgeous golden biodiesel.

We are starting a biodiesel coop, and fuel will be available in the near future. Contact me for more information about becoming a coop member or providing used fryer oil. If you happen to know any restaurants interested in having their oil collected for making biodiesel, send them over to STARworks Biofuels!

Tax credits expire and cold weather persists. The construction continues.

What a year it has been so far! The biodiesel production tax credit expired at the end of 2009. While we aren't making biodiesel yet, we know that many biodiesel plants around the US are hurting and have stopped running without this credit. Contact your senators in Washington to let them know we need to have this credit renewed to get biodiesel plants back online. You can look up your senators at http://www.senate.gov .

In keeping with the 3 R spirit, I've been reusing steam pipe insulation from our sock mill, wrapping it around our process heat system piping in the plant. I've seen a nice increase in overnight glycol tank temperatures with the insulation in place, holding the glass furnace waste heat nicely. Aluminum shielding is wrapped around the insulation as a protective covering. Here's a picture of some insulated pipe.

Jim Gosnell of Industrial Integration insulated the glycol tank recently to conserve the heat we're harvesting from the glass furnace exhaust. It is really holding the heat in well. He used a spray foam insulation kit that went on in less than an hour. Jim applied it on one of the warmer days we've had so far this year. It was balmy, in the low 60s that day, and he applied it in the afternoon with the sun shining in through our open garage door.

Several of our friends from Wet Dog Glass fabricated and installed working platforms and catwalk. We reused safety rails and angle iron from throughout the plant to bring it all together. Many thanks to Mac, Phil and Evan for all their work, and Eddie for providing Wet Dog equipment and workspace! Here is a picture from the first couple days working on the platform.

... and below is how it looks now with railing and nearly complete. I just have to touch up the safety yellow paint on the welds and some worn areas.

Our grease collection truck hasn't been on the road collecting yet, and the battery doesn't like sitting unused in this cold weather. I brought in my solar panel trickle charger to help it out.

After a few days with the solar panel plugged into the truck, it still didn't want to start, so I guess the battery may need to be replaced. I'm charging the battery with a plugin charger just to be certain. We'll have this truck on the road soon to be collecting UFOs in our area... that's used fryer oil, not extraterrestrial flying ships ;)

Send an email or call at 910.428.9001 if you want us to recycle your UFO to make biodiesel.