Flash Point leads to sucess

The flast point for biodiesel is 130 degrees celcius. When we threw the match in the fuel at 130 degrees celcius, it remained lit for 3 seconds. These are the results we hoped for! We concluded that it is the vapor burning, not the fuel.

The last couple of days...

Yesterday, we just cleaned up in the beginning portion of the class, then worked on the computers. We caught up on some unfinished blog work and stuff of that nature. Today we started the process of making the fuel again. Half of our class measured the 1 liter of oil into the bottles and the other half put the 12 grams of sodium hydroxide and 220ML of methanol into the jars and shook untill dissolved. We are almost comming to an end, now that we have done it before the second batch will go more smoothly. Tomorrow we are going to finish up measuring the 1 lieter of oil into the bottles. Then we will add the mixed methanol and sodium hydroxide into our bottles. The sodium hydroxide, and the shaking of the jars are the catalyst because a catalyst is what causes chemicals to highly react.

Diesel Engine Diagram

These are the letters that correspond with the diagram.

S- spark plug
I- intake camshaft
V- valves
W- water jacket for coolant flow
P- piston
R- connecting rod
C- crank shaft 

The diesel engine along with the thermodynamic cycle was created by Rudolf Diesel in the year 1897. A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine. It works by usuing the heat of compression to make ignition to burn the fuel. The fuel is injected into the combustion chamber in the last stage of compression. This is different from the petrol engine that uses spark ignition. The diesel engine is way more efficent and planet friendly.

Making the oil day TWO

On day two of making our biodiesel we came in, got suited up, and started working right away. Our bottles had a thick layer of glycerin resting on the bottom. Glycerin is the left over gunk. Our task today was to get rid of the layer by opening the bottle and applying a little pressure at a time to squeeze it out, without letting a lot of our fuel out. That process went by pretty smooth. The only thing that went wrong for me is that right when it was my turn Ms.Rioux caught me with gum in my mouth during a lab (BIG MISTAKE) and then i had to go last. Once that was done we let our bottles sit for another night.

Making the Biodiesel day ONE!

Today in class we started the process of making the biodiesel! Our class worked really efficently and we got what we needed to be done in perfect time. The process of making the biodiesel was fairly easy. First, we measured 1 lieter of clean oil into our soda bottles. We were about 4 bottles in and we realized that we have been usuing the DIRTY oil!!! We had to pour the oil back into the dirty oil bucket and restart. Once we were on the right track it went by pretty fast. Our class split up and half of us shook the 12 grams sodium hydroxide and 250mL methanol together in a jar untill completly dissolved, while the other half poured the 1 lieter of oil in to all of our periods soda bottles. Once all of that was complete, we added the mixed hydroxide and methanol in our bottles with the oil 8 times. We did not shake the mixture we just flipped it upside down and then right side up 8 times. Finally we set our biodiesel upside down in a small beaker so it would be stable back on the counter. We did this because we want the glycerin to float to the lid so we can easily dispose of it.

Although we got the job done we had some problems,we were about 4 bottles into pouring the oil into the bottles and we realized that we have been pouring in the DIRTY oil!!! We had to pour the oil back into the dirty oil bucket and restart. To make sure that all of the dirty oil was out we held the bottle upside down towards the bucket, getting ALL of the oil out. The only other minor issue we had today was that some people had some diffucalty to get the hydroxide to dissolve in the methanol, but we quickly got past that and moved onto the next step. I am excited to see the results tomorrow! We are hoping that the glycerin fills to the top and we will not have any problem getting it out of our bottles. Tommorw we are going to clean the oil with water, im not sure how its going to work! Best of luck to all of the classes!

Fifth Blog Post

Today went by more smoothly than yesterday. The only problem is we need a more efficent way to heat the oil. We could only use about 3 hot plates at a time because of electrical reasons and we needed a better way of getting more amounts of oil heating at the same time. We recieved a different heating source of heat that we could put a whole pot of oil on at the same time at the end of class, we have yet to try it to see if it works. It will be intresting to see what happens tomorrow with the new heating source.

Fourth Blog Post

The first day cleaning oil went better than i thought! Things were a little slow at first but once we got the hang of it things started to go more smoothly. We have 20 liters to clean in 3 days, to get it all done we will have to work at a faster pace. I think now that we know what we are doing and we understand the process of cleaning the oil, tomorrow will run more smoothly.

Third Blog Post

If the oil is boiled, sprinkled with salt, put in cold water, strained, then the oil will be purified because when you boil water, the food particles come to the surface, and when the salt is put in, the food particles will dissolve.

Materials-
1. Oil
2. Salt
3. Cold water
4. Strainer

Procedure-
1. Boil oil
2. Sprinkle with salt
3. Place in cold water
4. Strain

Second Blog Post

Over the past couple of days, I have collected a ton of information about biodisel! http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html#biod Is a website that provides great information on biodiesel's benefits. The website reassures that nobody has yet hurt them selfs in anyway while making the homebrewed biodiesel. Vegatable oil is the most easy and practicle approach to making it.  http://www.make-biodiesel.org/ explains how it produces fewer polluting emissions, supplies of it can be renewed indefinitely, and because feedstock materials can be grown domestically, use of it can help bolster the U.S. economy while lessening this country’s dependence on foreign petroleum products.

I think the most practicle approach to cleaning the vegtable oil is following the steps shown on the website http://www.ehow.com/how_2330455_filter-cooking-oil.html

Step 1- Let the oil cool.
Step 2- Line the strainer with cheese cloth.
Step 3- Hook strainer to the container, a strainer with hooks generally works better with a large plastic pitcher.
Step 4- SLOWLY pour cooking oil into strainer, the faster you do it the more likley you are to get food stuck in the strainer.

First Blog Post!

I was asked to create a biodisel fuel, that means friendly to the environment. When Mr.Ham first told us about the project i was a little overwhelmed. Once it sinked it i realized that it is going to be very educational and fun! I am still confused on how i am going to create this fuel knowing that i have no knowledge on biodisel, but i know with Ms.Rioux's help i will figure out how. My question is that i am not sure how i will find the materials to do this, but I am SO EXCITED!