The "small fuel producer" permit is fairly easy to aquire, and denaturing is not required for ethanol consumed on premises.
--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Ken Provost <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >Okay, lemme ask again: > > > > > >- Anyone out there making their own fuel ethanol? > > > > > >- Is anyone succeeding in making ethyl esters? > > > > > >- Is anyone managing to make anhydrous ethanol on a small scale? > > > > > >Any "yes" answers, PLEASE tell us all about it. > > > > > > > > >First let me just say that some people are paranoid of their > >government, and distillation of ethanol in the US, even for > >fuel use, is ILLEGAL without going through all the hoops > >required by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, > >Dept. of the Treasury, etc, etc. Try to buy a still on the > >web, and your supplier is obligated to save a record of your > >purchase for perusal by the gummint at their request. This > >may explain why more researchers are not forthcoming as > >to their progress in this area. > > Yes, and then you have to denature the stuff. But I understood it's > not such a major hassle to get the permit, could of course be wrong. > And then there's rather more to the world indeed - and to this list - > than the US. Still, if anyone is being deterred by the law, if you > write to me off-list I'll certainly keep it quiet. It would be really > helpful. > > >That being said, I will confess to the world that I have > >purchased absolute ethanol and used it to succesfully make > >biodiesel on a small scale, both from clean canola oil and > >from WVO (KOH catalyst, 300 ml EtOH per liter of oil). > >I've also successfully dried 85% ethanol, using lime per > >the Alcohol Fuel Manual, and used the result (not absolute, > >but close enough) with equal success for biodiesel. The > >problem with lime was finding the stuff (used to decompose > >dead bodies -- not real available in suburbia), and filtering it > >out afterwards (it's extremely fine, and goes right through > >the coffee filters I use for biodiesel). The stuff I used for > >biod was actually still a little cloudy with calcium hydroxide > >(no adverse effect expected or observed there...). -K > > That's most interesting. Did you use Mathewson's ratio of 35lb of > lime per gallon of water to be removed? Quicklime used to be the > standard article, but now it's more or less been replaced by hydrated > lime - easier to use and safer, I guess. Which makes quicklime hard > to find, as you say, and expensive. Previously I got some prices for > quicklime from someone in Australia wanting to use this method. It > worked out very pricey. Never heard his results though. Could you > tell us something about your costs? > > Also, did the small proportion of water remaining mean you had to > alter the ethyl esterification quantities or method in any way? > > Would the remaining calcium hydroxide have settled over time in a > sealed container? > > We have some real filtration experts on this list - any ideas, people? > > Thanks very much for this information Ken, I've been wanting to know > exactly what you've told us for ages and haven't been in a position > to be able to find out for myself. > > Many thanks again > > Best wishes > > Keith Addison > Journey to Forever > Handmade Projects > Tokyo > http://journeytoforever.org/ Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
