Kevin, I don't know if anyone here uses them, but we use to use stir plates when I use to work in labs. Basically it is a motor that spins a magnet at variable speeds, you place your beaker or carboy on top and drop in a stir bar which is just a Teflon coated magnet. This spins with the magnet underneath and mixes your solution. That should be a little safer than using a mixer with agitator but requires buying a stir plate. Some universities have shops where they sell off their old lab equipment cheap and you can often find them there. They even have heated stir plates which would work great for doing test batches or small batches (up to 3 or 4 liters) if you can get the right sized glass beaker. Here is a link http://www.labsynergy.com/hotmenu.html Not recommending you buy from them, just the first one I found.
Regards, Sven ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kevin Shea" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 9:17 PM Subject: [biofuel] Methanol and Sodium Hydroxide efficiant mixing method > Does anyone have suggestions on the best way to agitate the Lye powder into the methanol? I use a type 20 Lightning mixer (with small propeller agitator), but have problems with the dissolving of Sodium Hydroxide > > I mix 3.75 liters of methanol to the appropriate amount of sodium hydroxide in a 5 gallon carboy (with small hole drilled in cap) and let mix for 15 minutes. My problem is that the sodium hydroxide fails to dissolve completely with the methanol. I can see lots of clumped Lye! > > I hate this part of the process!!! and it is the most dangerous!! I take as much precaution as possible not to expose myself and wear proper safety protection. I'm not crazy about mixing for longer period with an electric mixer or have something happen to cause a catastrophic event, so I'm trying to minimize this danger window of this process > > Most likely I'll mix the next batch of Sodium Methoxide in a smaller carboy (HDPE), and that should hopefully help. Maybe the propeller shaft should be a larger design?? Anyway, I'm interested in the most efficient (Safe) methods and how long agitation should be? > > I use the Red Devil powder Lye. > > > Thank you, > Kevin Shea > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuels list archives: > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ > > Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
