Re: Advanced biodiesel class, Berkeley, CA, Feb 24-25

Chris,  

This is Mark from the NSCU.  Here's the appleseed
class being taught by Maria Alovert (AKa girl mark)
She's really knowledgeable about biodiesel and its
being taught in Seattle.  




--- girl mark <[email protected]>
wrote:

> (Note: I think BioLyle Rudensey from Seattle is
> coming down for this,
> maybe there's a carpool possible if anyone from PDX
> is interested)
> 
> Advanced biodiesel homebrewing class
> 
> Feb 24-25, Berkeley, CA, $120
> 
> To register: www.girlmark.com/tour
> <http://www.girlmark.com/tour>
> I'll be offering this class three times before July
> 2007- in Berkeley on
> Feb 24-25, and in Pennsylvania in June or July and
> somewhere in the
> Upper Midwest in late June or early July (dates not
> set yet)
> **************************************
> 
> This two-day class presents advanced biodiesel
> production techniques for
> those who are already proficient at basic
> transesterification, or those
> who have already taken a one- or two-day hands-on
> class from me or
> another teacher working from the
> http://biodieselcommunity.org
> 'curriculum' (such as Jennifer Radtke, John Bush,
> Steve Fugate,
> "BioLyle" Rudensey, Piedmont Biofuels, Matt Steiman,
> Kalib Kersch, and
> others).
> 
> 
> In addition to presenting some of the more
> 'advanced' techniques, this
> class focuses on teaching better quality control and
> safer practices,
> with a focus on the scientific process that goes
> along with better
> troubleshooting. We focus on better understanding
> the variables that
> affect biodiesel quality, and how to design
> experiments and
> troubleshooting protocols to isolate those variables
> when something goes
> wrong with your production quality.
> 
> Topics covered:
> 
> quality control, two-stage acid-base and 80/20
> base-base processes,
> other processes for free fatty acid reduction and
> quality improvements,
> advanced dewatering options, some discussion of
> methanol recovery and
> flash evaporators, ethanol for biodiesel production,
> advanced equipment
> topics such as solar heating, larger batches,
> 'balance of system'
> equipment tricks to make your processing neater,
> magnesol, etc. There is
> a hands-on lab component to this class which covers
> setting up careful
> experiments, as well as covering advanced topics in
> testing- soap tests,
> soap neutralisation, testing recovered methanol for
> purity and various
> methods of increasing purity of methanol or ethanol,
> dealing with
> unknown strengths of methoxide or other common
> mistakes, safer mixing of
> KOH and methanol, fire safety, glycerine acidulation
> and purification,
> glycerine burning for process heat, proper
> composting tricks, better
> handling of wash water.
> 
> There will be some pre-requisite reading required
> for the class (about
> 50 pages).
> 
> The Biodiesel Homebrew Guide Version 11 should be
> available in January
> and will include some of the material to be covered
> in the class. This
> book will be available for sale at the class for $15
> or online at
> www.localb100.com/book.html
> <http://www.localb100.com/book.html>
> 
> Other advanced workshops offered by others:
> 
> My class is strictly about small-scale production
> and does not cover
> activist topics (such as 'how to start a co-op') or
> business topics
> (such as permitting). For activist biodiesel
> presentations, please
> attend the July 2007 Biodiesel Co-ops Conference in
> Colorado
> (http://b100.org should have information soon), and
> for permitting and
> larger-scale production topics, please see the Iowa
> State University
> course at http://www.me.iastate.edu/biodiesel .
> 
> This Berkeley class is also scheduled to follow an
> unrelated five-day
> Intensive course taught by owners of the Biofuel
> Oasis fueling station,
> called 'How to Start Your Own Biodiesel Station' .
> For more information
> about the Oasis distribution class, please see
> www.backyardbiodiesel.org/classes.html
> <http://www.backyardbiodiesel.org/classes.html>. The
> Oasis Intensive is
> a separate project, please apply to the two classes
> separately.
> 
> For info on my advanced production class, please see
> www.girlmark.com/tour <http://www.girlmark.com/tour>
> 
> The following discussion forum thread is set up for
> comments about this
> class:
>
http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/419605551/m/8671046871
> 
> _______________________________________________
> pdx-biodiesel mailing list
> [email protected]
>
http://lists.gobiodiesel.org/mailman/listinfo/pdx-biodiesel
> 


"I have a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and
call it a weasel!" - Edmund Blackadder


 
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