I broke a graduated cylinder today.

Yep, I just broke one of the great graduated cylinders that was kindly donated to us by the EHS office. It was the 250mL cylinder, so I'm especially bummed. But I have to admit, that is the only thing that has gone wrong today. And who knows, maybe we'll happen upon another 250mL graduated cylinder soon.
After performing small batches of biodiesel last week using different amount of potassium hydroxide (KOH), we determined that an additional 5g or 7g KOH was not enough for our waste vegetable oil (WVO). We get WVO from various places around the student center, and it is not great quality, which means we need more KOH. So this week, we are testing different reactions using an additional 9g and 11g KOH.
During normal biodiesel processing, we typically perform two reactions. We perform the first reaction using 80% of the total amount of potassium methoxide needed. After the biodiesel and glycerol separate, we remove the glycerol and add the other 20% of the methoxide. By removing the glycerol, we remove one of the products, so adding more methoxide will push the reaction to completion. For more information on the 80/20 biodiesel production method, click here.
An alternative to the 80/20 version, is the 80/20-90/10 version, which uses the same principles to push the reaction to completion, uses different combinations of methanol and potassium hydroxide to make methoxide. For this version, the first reaction uses methoxide with 80% the total amount of methanol, and 90% of the total amount of KOH, while the second reaction uses methoxide with 20% of the total amount of methanol, and 10% of the total amount of KOH (hence its name). For more information and examples of both, click here.
See our updated procedure here.

We will continue processing normal-sized batches next week utilizing the conclusions of these weeks experiments, which will hopefully improve the efficiency of our processor. On the left is a simple filter we developed at the beginning of the summer to filter out larger food particles in our WVO. I tested it yesterday, and it definitely did its job preventing the pump from getting clogged. However, the part was 3-D printed, and it fit over the PVC pipe very tightly, and a small nudge when hanging it back up broke it in half. Since it was a succes, we will machine another one out of aluminum this time.

So I've broken a couple of things this week, but still, everything has been going very well overall. A few things to look forward to this month: performing 27/3 tests on our biodiesel samples from these past two weeks, attempting methanol recovery on glycerol from our next batch (maybe we'll make soap!), building relations with local businesses to collect more oil, and showcasing at the Women's Technology Program on July 19th!

Real Experiments!

Although biodiesel processing requires complex chemical reactions and equipment, it is still viewed as a simple procedure, and there are many websites and books that can tell you step-by-step, how to produce biodiesel in your own home. Since many processors salvage and recycle parts, and collect waste vegetable oil, every batch of biodiesel produced is different, and there are many discrepancies amongst the many procedures out there.
I believe this contributes to the skepticism and hesitation when it comes to using biodiesel. Biodiesel is different from regular diesel, and therefore, some care must be taken to help your engine run properly. Likewise, B100 must meet ASTM standards to ensure that it is suitable to run in diesel engines.
This summer, the goal of Biodiesel@MIT is to refine our process in a few specific ways. Firstly, starting this week, we are experimenting to determine the optimal amount of potassium hydroxide (KOH) to add to methanol to produce methoxide. You can take a look at our procedure here. We have taken a very precise and scientific approach to our processing, and we are excited to implement our results, which should be available next week!
Second, we want to increase the efficiency of our process by improving our methanol recovery system. The group's advisor, chemical engineering professor Bill Green, who has kindly offered our group some fume hood space this week to perfom our aforementioned experiments, has also offered us advice for operating our methanol recovery unit. He has suggested adding a condenser and a needle valve between the methanol collection tank and the vacuum pump, instead of bleeding out air to maintain a pressure between 15 and 18mmHG. Given that this is much harder than it sounds (especially when you're as vertically challenged as I am), this will help us improve our operation. To speed up the methanol stripping process, he also suggested bubbling air through the biodiesel, instead of stirring, since getting the dissolved methanol into contact with the air-liquid interface helps it evaporate. This can also be applied to performing methanol recovery on the glycerol we produce, therefore reducing our waste twofold; we will be able to reuse the condensed and collected methanol to make methoxide, and without methanol, and after it's been neutralized, the glycerol will not be considered a hazardous wasteand will have other uses, such as composting, burning it as a fuel, or making soap!
Finally, our third goal is to increase participation in Biodiesel@MIT. There are a lot of opportunities, from producing biodiesel hands-on, to using html to update the website with upcoming events and news, to working to create a business model for using biodiesel on campus. Help us promote sustainability on campus and get involved today. If you are interested in learning more about biodiesel, email us at biodiesel-active@mit.edu.
Stay tuned for upcoming events and results and pictures from this week's experiments!

Not a Bad Day for Biodiesel

It's hot out there today, reading around 85 degrees Fahrenheit in Boston. So literally, it's a pretty good day to run biodiesel (or straight vegetable oil if you're adventurous).
Our production has gone on hold this week, since we are in the process of smaller test batches. While the biodiesel process is pretty straightforward and well-defined, there are some discrepancies over how much catalyst to use. In our lab, we use KOH (potassium hydroxide). The general idea is that after you perform a titration to find how much KOH you need to neutralize the free fatty acids. The reaction also requires KOH as a catalyst. To determine the amount of KOH you must add to methanol to make methoxide, you add a certain number to the titration number. It is this number we are testing. For our smaller experiments, we are processing 4 1L batches of biodiesel using waste vegetable oil from the student center here on MIT's campus. I performed the titrations for this WVO last week, getting values of 7.5, 7.5, and 8 in the three separate titrations. We are then adding 5, 7, 9, and 11 to get four different batches of methoxide. Since we are only using 1L of WVO, these numbers simply convert to grams of KOH. We will compare the results of these batches by measuring the amount that of glycerol that each batch creates, as well as performing a 225/25 test.

I would like to give a special thanks to Joshua Middaugh and Jeffry Mo for giving me access to their fume hood, Niamh Kelly and the EHS Office at MIT for buying us our first Erlenmeyer flasks, and lastly to Bob, Lab Manager with EHS, for donating 250mL, 500mL, and 1000mL graduated cylinders.

For a more detailed Procedure and list of Materials, see here.

First Finished Batch of Biodiesel!

As the new president of Biodiesel@MIT, I am very proud to say I finished my first batch of biodiesel. This batch actually started in March, but due to a broken pump, it didn't get finished until last night.
After doing a second magnesol treatment and water wash, the biodiesel was finally ready to go through the last magnesol treatment and filtration (correction to last post; the biodiesel and magnesol go through two filtrations: 10 microns and 1 micron, not 100 and 10). As I believe I mentioned last time, the first filtration did not go properly because the filter did not fit in correctly, but it was obvious that everything worked the second time around because the whole filter was completely caked with magnesol (as it should be). It was very heavy and difficult to get out, but after slowly draining it, I was able to replace it with the 1 micron filter and perform a second magnesol treatment. We have decided to reuse the filters for at least two batches, as long as well we let the filters dry out and we are able to scrape most of the magnesol out.
To make room for the new biodiesel, I tried out our new barrel pump to consolidate our uncertified biodiesel into one drum. The pump is very simple; it screws into the larger bung, and a hand pump is used to draw out the liquid inside. The good people at Utah Biodiesel Supply added braided tubing to the kit to replace the normal spout, making it much easier to transfer biodiesel among barrels.
Today we received two new drums to be used for the blending of B5 and B10 that will be used in the landscaping equipment on MIT's campus. This is a very big step for Biodiesel@MIT, as this has been our goal since before the processor was even installed.
Stay tuned for more news from Biodiesel! There's a lot happening this summer, so if you would like to get involved, please contact me at hojnacki@mit.edu.

Learning from Failures

Welcome to Biodiesel@MIT. My name is Angela, and somehow this year, I got roped into the crazy world that is biodiesel. I joined the club this year, wanting to get involved with alternative energy initiatives on campus. Briefly, Biodiesel@MIT was started with the goal of processing used vegetable oil from the student center to biodiesel that can be run in the campus shuttles and equipment. I happened to get involved at a very exciting time: this past semester, our biodiesel finally passed ASTM standards, and is ready to be blended into B10 for campus facilities. Our club is also currently transitioning. Many members of our club graduated this past semester, somehow leaving me in charge.
So I am here for the summer, processing biodiesel and preparing for my role as President next semester. We have a lot of work, but it's very rewarding.
After putting processing on hold for a couple of months due to a broken pump, we are finally back in business. Last week, we made methoxide for a third reaction for this biodiesel. Now, we are currently filtering it. Well, we would be finished today, but apparently I did the filtration incorrectly, leaving most of the magnesol in the biodiesel. While the biodiesel is still okay, it's going to take more time and more processing to finish it.
Today, I performed another magnesol wash on the biodiesel, and filtered it out. Now, after a (second) small water wash, the heated biodiesel/water combination is settling, and tomorrow morning, the waste will be drained (and properly disposed of), and we will perform a second magnesol wash, this time with a 10 micron filter instead of a 100 micron filter.
Currently, one issue we face is that we are unable to pump all of the biodiesel out of our filter. While it is not a significant amount of biodiesel compared to the amount in the tank, it makes it very difficult to remove the filter, which is caked with magnesol and very heavy. Today, after spilling a large amount of biodiesel on the ground (and myself), I managed to pump out a portion of the biodiesel, drain some from the bottom, then prop the filter up out of the cylinder using some old PVC pipe. This allowed more biodiesel to drain out of the bottom of the cylinder. Our next idea is design a structure from the ceiling that will hold the filter high enough to allow all of the biodiesel to drain. After my success with the PVC pipe, I think this is our best bet.
That's about it for today. Keep in touch and I'll keep you updated on our work for the rest of the week. Feel free to contact us anytime with questions or suggestions.