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delivery may be available for additional fee depending on distance
50 gallon hybrid Appleseed-GL1 system for sale, photos will be posted soon. See below for example of similar systems I've sold.
This is a water heater-based biodiesel processor nearly identical to the very popular Appleseed processor found around the world (I'm actually the inventor). It also incorporates evaporative methanol recovery equipment invented by Graham Laming.
The advantage of an Appleseed is that it's extremely easy to operate, and biodiesel online forums provide nearly 24 hour support for questions. The advantage of the Graham Laming GL-1 process is that it allows you to recover some of your excess methanol, both to make soap removal/washing/dry washing easier, and to make the biodiesel safer to handle through the succeeding steps of the process.
System includes:
-50 gallon used water heater with new pump and plumbing similar to an Appleseed
reactor with optional GL-1 venturi
-copper tube-in-shell Plumbers' Delight condensor for methanol recovery
-venturi, receiving container, and accessory piping for GL-1 evaporative methanol recovery from biodiesel
-55-drum-based wash tank/settling tank/drying tank with thermostatically controlled
heater, sampling ports, and multiple height outlet
-water washing and final filtration equipment
- Copy of Biodiesel Homebrew Guide (http://localb100.com/book.html)
For more information about Appleseed processors, please see http://biodieselcommunity.org/appleseedprocessor/
For more information about the Graham Laming GL-1 processor and methanol recovery
method, please see http://graham-laming.com
$1400
contact classregistration@girlmark.com
for details
Below: "Cadillac" System (sold):
Below are some photos of a much larger system that I sold recently- the 50-gallon GL-1 reactor is similar other than having a condensor and a separate line for the venturi above the pump. The wash tank that comes with the GL-1 is similar to my drying tank shown below, and can be used for washing or for settling/filtration, depending on whether you are using a water wash or not.
Contact: classregistration@girlmark.com
Lots of extra options are available including (sometimes) methanol recovery equipment and extra settling tanks for expanded capacity. These are mostly custom-built systems that I can modify to fit your needs, unless I indicate that I'm selling off a used 'as is' item. I am based near Raleigh, NC. Delivery may be available depending on my teaching schedule, which currently takes me to NY, FL, OK, and other areas in the fall and winter of 08 and 09. On-site training and setup is available for an additional fee.
Here's the base model, and some photos taken during construction of components
or of used tanks from my demonstration unit:
118-gallon
tank built out of two barrels welded together. These are my favorite wash or
settling tanks, and I wish there was more widespread availability of these for
homebrewers. They're somewhat difficult for most people to build without causing
leaks at the seam between the two barrels. See below for photo of my welds.
I'll be happy to talk you through how to do it by email should you attempt to
build the same thing yourself.
 details
of electrical heater and thermostat mounting boxes. |
Wash Tank welds: construction details |
Left::
Disassembled plumbing from the top of wash tank. The mistwash nozzle enters
the tank from a welded port in the center of the tank top. The other two ports
are for biodiesel in, and for venting. The tank can also come with a MistPro
nozzle if desired. I don't see an enormous difference between the two. The tank
can also come with an extra port and a bubblewash system.
Photo shows a drying tank under construction, with heater and thermostat not yet wired. This tank will also have a dial thermometer. threaded into the tank.
This is a fairly standard drying tank used by many homebrewers. Mine has thermostatically controlled heating. Not shown is an unmodified lid with bungs that can be used to cover the finished fuel during storage.
The plumbing is almost identical to a processor, which makes it versatile and usable for multiple purposes depending on your future needs. You can use the pump to draw biodiesel into the drying tank out of the wash tank. You can also add a venturi on a separate line to help with drying. You could even turn this into a 40-gallon processor (I don't like drum processors but they're sometimes used) . The upper valve us a sampling port to check the condition of your fuel both top and bottom.
Like the wash tank, I have set up the plumbing with a lower floor drain and one slightly above that, in case you want to let water settle out of the fuel before beginning active circulated drying, which I think helps (this is similar to a standpipe tank, but since I weld I just stick both valves on the side of the tank). The standard way that these tend to get built is with a single bottom drain feeding the pump. Such tanks force you to evaporate every last scrap of water, whereas it'll just settle to the bottom in my tank's arrangement. You can connect the tubing from the two drains with cam-lock fittings so as to make the pump pull out of the floor drain if desired.
Showing poorly in this particular photo is the pump-out valve right above the pump. When you're ready to use the fuel, this pump will transfer the fuel through a filter (provided) that is threaded to the valve. There is also an extra, plugged tee in case you want to re-plumb the filter/valve to face a different direction in your shop.
Once the fuel is washed, there's no methanol or soap left, but the fuel tends to retain water. Active drying as described at www.biodieselcommunity.org speeds up the removal of the water. Heat also speeds up this process but is optional- you're not boiling the water out. It's especially helpful if you're using this in an unheated shed in winter. The tank in this photo was a prototype, I will include a splash shield welded to future tanks so as to allow more vigorous circulation and faster drying.
Photo
shows unpainted prototype.
Although this mixer uses a high-pressure shaft bearing to keep vapors inside the tank and away from the operator, an Air powered motor is used to prevent any possibility of sparking. Methanol is pumped into the tank (use a hand-cranked pump) to fill it (the other port on top is a vent, connected to the outdoors, to your reactor vent, or to a condensor).
KOH or NaOH or sulfuric acid are added using the large 3" port. Future versions of this system include a quick-connect lid instead of the pipe cap. The air-powered drill stirs a propeller stirrer.
note: DO NOT replicate this thing using an electric drill, it's far too dangerous because of the sparks from the electric motor.
Bottom plumbing: There are two ports, one at the bottom, one a bit higher up. They're designed around my reactor batch size and allow you to use 80/20 two-stage base method with less 'babysitting' . To use this feature, make your methanol/lye mixture the normal way, and then drain only the upper 80% by using the upper port with no worry about accidentally pumping all of your methoxide into the tank. When it's time to do the second stage, use the lower, floor-draining port to add the remaining 20%.
Photo
shows a heavily used system I used outdoors in the rain for a few years. It
usually looks prettier and with a newer, clearer sight tube. Sight tube is only
open while filling the reactor with oil, these pumps somewhat force you to remember
to shut the tube or else they start acting erratically. The rest of the plumbing
on the system is solid pipe, with an additional Pyrex window halfway up the
pump line so you can watch the mixture change color.
Current systems are similar except for the use of a Northern Tool pump and a few minor plumbing modifications. There is currently an extra 'oil in' port in the layout I'm building these days.
I will also ship future ones with an extra stubout in the pump line that allows use of a venturi to use Graham Laming's process or to draw in methanol or oil more easily, but retains the unobstructed use of the pump, which I normally prefer for processing.
An extra port can be added to the reactor tank itself, which allows for better separation of glycerine from biodiesel. This is similar to the 'standpipe' concept being promoted by the Apple Turnover users, except that I can achieve the same thing more neatly by welding and still have plenty of ports on the top of the system.
The same pump will still pump this biodiesel out from above the glycerine in the 'two-drain' tank not shown here.
Fairly standard layout. I usually use tanks that allow me to have an extra port for a methanol recovery condensor AND a vent pipe. I can put an extra valve on the sight tube line in case you want to recovery methanol under vacuum or dry out water by boiling under vacuum.
