Glycerol / Distillation Experiment Update

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Dave and I have been playing with side products from the waste Glycerol. The
two most useful/profitable things you could make would be propylene glycol
or soap. The downside is that both require distillation to some degree.

To make soap you will need to remove the Methanol and water from the
glycerol cocktail and filter the left over glycerol. To make our first batch
of pure glycerol soap we just boiled it all away, we didn't care about
reclaiming the Methanol for our experiment.

We added 38.5g of NaOH to 1 litre of warm water and then added it to 1
gallon of our clean glycerol. After stirring for around 20 minutes we poured
the solution into plastic storage bins and left stand for a couple of days.

Then we removed the soap from our storage bins onto wax paper and cut the
slab into 3x5"ish bars. The one gallon of glycerol produced around 40-45
bars of nice looking reddish translucent soap.

We are still waiting for the soap to finish curing, it is supposed to take a
couple of weeks.

The only problem with making soap is that every time we make biodiesel we
produce about 70 gallons of glycerol cocktail. About 27 gallons are actually
glycerol, the rest is a combination of Methanol (18-22 gallons), water
(16-18 gallons) and soap (5-8 gallons).

Currently I only know how to split these up with distillation. A good
distillation setup requires a balance between input heat, vapour rate,
condenser efficiency and atmospheric pressure.

In our case we didn't really mess around with the atmospheric pressure. Our
heating source is fixed to 5000 watts so we focused on vapour rate and
condenser efficiency. So sum up our experience, 5000 watts in 275 gallons
produces such a low vapour rate that you could use a pop bottle in ice for
your condenser instead of the water cooled counter flow one we built. We
just need more energy to really distill faster. If you read about making
ethanol you quickly find out that the standard for heating is usually a
propane burner or wood stove. A standard burner is usually 100,000 btu or
more or around 30,000 watts.

The only other option is to reduce the atmospheric pressure inside the
vessel so that less input heat is required. We are currently experimenting
with this, and will update with more later. The problem we are encountering
is that it is often difficult to find a large vacuum rated container.

Making propylene glycol just requires that you add caustic to the glycerol
and distill the entire solution. However glycerol has a boiling point of
over 380F. So if it took alot of energy to distill out the Methanol. Just
imagine how much you would need to distill glycerol. Once again, a good
vacuum distillation setup would help.
The good news is that a 4x8' piece of plywood with a 2" border around it can
easily hold a 20 gallon batch of glycerol soap. However it needs to be
stored in a cool dry place. Then the only catch is packaging and
distributing 1000 bars of soap every couple of days. All of this for just
2200 gallons of biodiesel production per month! Just imagine if we were
making 2200 gallons a day.

--
Jeff Brandt
Sun Break Biofuels, LLC
http://www.sunbreakbiofuels.com
mailto:jeffb-hD0ojMJ1hjDksvZKaRJZc1aTQe2KTcn/@public.gmane.org <jeffb-hD0ojMJ1hjDksvZKaRJZc1aTQe2KTcn/@public.gmane.org>

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<p>Dave and I have been playing with side products from the waste Glycerol. The two most useful/profitable things you could make would be propylene glycol or soap. The downside is that both require distillation to some degree. 
</p>
<p>To make soap you will need to remove the Methanol and water from the glycerol cocktail and filter the left over glycerol. To make our first batch of pure glycerol soap we just boiled it all away, we didn&#39;t care about reclaiming the Methanol for our experiment. 
</p>
<p>We added 38.5g of NaOH to 1 litre of warm water and then added it to 1 gallon of our clean glycerol. After stirring for around 20 minutes we poured the solution into plastic storage bins and left stand for a couple of days. 
</p>
<p>Then we removed the soap from our storage bins onto wax paper and cut the slab into 3x5&quot;ish bars. The one gallon of glycerol produced around 40-45 bars of nice looking reddish translucent soap. </p>
<p>We are still waiting for the soap to finish curing, it is supposed to take a couple of weeks. </p>
<p>The only problem with making soap is that every time we make biodiesel we produce about 70 gallons of glycerol cocktail. About 27 gallons are actually glycerol, the rest is a combination of Methanol (18-22 gallons), water (16-18 gallons) and soap (5-8 gallons). 
</p>
<p>Currently I only know how to split these up with distillation. A good distillation setup requires a balance between input heat, vapour rate, condenser efficiency and atmospheric pressure. </p>
<p>In our case we didn&#39;t really mess around with the atmospheric pressure. Our heating source is fixed to 5000 watts so we focused on vapour rate and condenser efficiency. So sum up our experience, 5000 watts in 275 gallons produces such a low vapour rate that you could use a pop bottle in ice for your condenser instead of the water cooled counter flow one we built. We just need more energy to really distill faster. If you read about making ethanol you quickly find out that the standard for heating is usually a propane burner or wood stove. A standard burner is usually 100,000 btu or more or around 30,000 watts. 
</p>
<p>The only other option is to reduce the atmospheric pressure inside the vessel so that less input heat is required. We are currently experimenting with this, and will update with more later. The problem we are encountering is that it is often difficult to find a large vacuum rated container. 
</p>
<p>Making propylene glycol just requires that you add caustic to the glycerol and distill the entire solution. However glycerol has a boiling point of over 380F. So if it took alot of energy to distill out the Methanol. Just imagine how much you would need to distill glycerol. Once again, a good vacuum distillation setup would help. 
</p>
<div>The good news is that a 4x8&#39; piece of plywood with a 2&quot; border around it can easily hold a 20 gallon batch of glycerol soap. However it needs to be stored in a cool dry place. Then the only catch is packaging and distributing 1000 bars of soap every couple of days. All of this for just 2200 gallons of biodiesel production per month! Just imagine if we were making 2200 gallons a day.
</div>
<div>&nbsp;</div>
<div>--</div>
<div>Jeff Brandt</div>
<div>Sun Break Biofuels, LLC</div>
<div><a href="http://www.sunbreakbiofuels.com">http://www.sunbreakbiofuels.com</a></div>
<div><a href="mailto:jeffb-hD0ojMJ1hjDksvZKaRJZc1aTQe2KTcn/@public.gmane.org">mailto:jeffb-hD0ojMJ1hjDksvZKaRJZc1aTQe2KTcn/@public.gmane.org</a></div>

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