Just a reminder that my last 'regular' two-day biodiesel homebrewing
class (until winter?) is next weekend in Berkeley.

Biodiesel Homebrewing/Equipment Building Class with Maria 'girl Mark'
Alovert of http://biodieselcommunity.org

Berkeley

10-4 Saturday and Sunday, June 30-July 1

to register: see http://girlmark.com/tour


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Biodiesel is a clean-burning diesel alternative made from any natural
oil or fat. It can be made easily in a backyard or garage environment.

In this class, you will learn how to make your own clean burning diesel
fuel alternative and how to build the processing equipment to make it at
home safely...

This is a comprehensive, hands-on workshop on making homebrew biodiesel
fuel out of waste restaurant fryer oil, which can usually be acquired
for 'free'.

Most of the class focuses on the chemistry behind biodiesel homebrewing
and quality control, and we'll be doing a lot of 'lab' work making test
batches, and variations on different formulas.

The feel of the class is a bit like the mad scientist version of "high
school chem lab" (hopefully without the spitballs and giggling)- you'll
be doing hands-on lab exercises in small groups, which will teach you
how to make and troubleshoot your home batches- and we'll be learning
the chemistry basics that underlie making good quality fuel for your
vehicle.

This is a fast-paced class, and I strongly recommend that you read this
website first: http://www.biodieselcommunity.org to get a background for
this subject.

The class will also cover equipment and system construction. We will
discuss heat exchangers, solar thermal heating of the process, some
minimal methanol recovery information, and other equipment topics.

At the end of this class, we build some biodiesel processors for those
students who wish to buy the parts. Everyone helps, regardless of
whether you want to bought your own kit or not.

I sell the Biodiesel Homebrew Guide ($15) in this class as well, for
more info, please see my book page at http://localb100.com/book.html

To register, please see the online registration at
http://www.girlmark.com/tour


Syllabus:

Saturday:
10-noon- lecture: general biofuels introduction, SVO conversions and
diesel blending (ie DSE, etc) discussions, cold weather issues,
emissions, discussion of early biofuels research that has gotten us
where we are today with biodiesel, explanation of biodiesel chemistry
and the basic process

noon-12:30 demonstration of the basic process

12:30-1:15 lunch

1:15-4 : students practice titration and make 1-liter batches, and we'll
discuss the full-size processor I'm bringing on the trailer outside and
how it works.

During the basic practice you'll practice oil water content testing,
blank titration, titration with a burette as well as cheaper equipment,
phenol red and turmeric titrations, really nasty oil as well as normal
oil, 5% glycerine remix prewash and two-stage process, along with
intentionally making mistakes for Sunday's class.

If we get through the basic 1-liter batches quickly enough, I"ll start
the next day's topics and demonstrations on Saturday afternoon.

Sunday:
10-12:30 lecture and demo: washing, biodiesel equipment, quality control
and quality testing discussion and demonstration, and a more detailed
discussion of quality problems that can affect vehicles

12:30-1:15 lunch

1:15-2:15 -students do 'open lab' practice, with help from some
experienced biodieselers who are coming to visit- you can perform
quality tests, wash your test batches from the day before, make more
test batches with different oil and different variables if you wish, do
ethanol-based biodiesel, attempt to fix some of the 'mistakes' we'll
intentionally make (ie emulsion and 'glop'), and more . You can also
start on your processor if you wish to instead. Intermittent lecturing
will take place during the lab, on topics such as ethanol-based
biodiesel and alternative lab techniques

2:15-4 plumbing/techniques demo and processor building (and continuation
of open lab, with help available for either lab or processor build- you
can filter back and forth between activities).