Luc, You might check with your brother-in-law again because I think you have the heat transfer coefficients of aluminum and copper reversed.
Typically, copper has about twice the heat transfer capability per inch of thickness than aluminum. There are quite a variety of aluminum grades and each one has its own heat transfer capability. Copper tubing is much easier to get in 50 ft lengths and doesn't kink as easily. Although, if one tries hard enough, anything kinks. I made a heat exchanger for a microbrewery that I constructed some years ago by slipping 50 ft of 1/2 inch copper tubing inside 49 feet of one inch black poly tubing. Using plastic Tees and fittings at each end, I ran the hot beer inside the copper tubing and ran cold in a water counter flow direction in the one inch plastic tubing. I liked it because I could coil it up on the floor under one of the tank stands and it ran for many years with only occasional cleaning. Art Krenzel, P.E. PHOENIX TECHNOLOGIES 10505 NE 285TH Street Battle Ground, WA 98604 360-666-1883 voice [EMAIL PROTECTED] I ran this question for a condenser by my brother-in-law who did a course in refrigerants ect... and he suggested that I use aluminium tubing instead of copper as the aluminium will transfer the cold from the water quicker than copper and the condensation will happen faster and more complete. Same as the 5 gal idea, but substitute aluminium piping instead of copper. Any second thoughts on this ? Made sense to me at the time (but then I don't know anything about it so it would, ha!) Luc --- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Kevin > > >Thanks for the info on the condenser plans to everyone who shared in the > >discussion. I did not realize that some info in Journey's website had > >specifics in the "Simple 5 gallon Processor". I think I passed this info > >over when I was on my reactor quest and the condenser paragraph was > >meaningless to me at the time. -Thanks Keith > > Well, it's one way. There were some provisos, as mentioned in the > previous message I reffed: > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/BIOFUEL/34289/ > > >So I have the basics and would hopefully like to still see some plans posted > >in the future. > > As far as we're concerned, we don't usually do plans. We're not > averse to them and wouldn't mind posting other people's plans, if > they're worth it, but we cobble stuff together out of bits and > pieces, junk usually, and everyone's bits and pieces of junk are > different. So the intention is to show what's possible so that people > can improvise and adapt what they have to hand to serve the same > purpose (and perhaps make some improvements that they might tell us > about so we could post those too). I know everyone's not into that, > some people need specifics and don't mind spending money, but that's > the way we do it, and anyway I believe a lot of those people could > surprise themselves and do it this way too if they'd only try. That's > a very empowering thing to discover, which is a major aspect of DIY > biofuels, we think. There's an overpowering miasma of engendered > helplessness and dependence in our societies these days, we're not > nearly as competent and generally capable as our fathers and > grandfathers were, and it's nonsense - we haven't changed, we're just > as capable of learning to fend for ourselves as they were. It's just > an attitude, which very much suits the powers-that-be. Attitudes > aren't made of concrete. </rant> > > Pardon me. :-) > > >Converting a liquid-to-a-gas, back to a liquid (Methanol), > >sounds easy enough. Let's discuss parts: > > > >Coaxial coil piping system: I haven't checked where to purchase coaxial > >pipe yet, (Donnie mentioned a beer homebrewing) but it appears that this > >can cool the gas efficiently using a cheap re-circulation water pump from > >let's say, a sealed bucket or as someone said a cooler of icewater? Of > >course it takes energy to make ice in the first place, but what else could > >cool the lines? > > Tap water. Have another look at that condensing section at the > "Simple 5 gallon Processor" page. In theory the cooling water only > has to be less than 64.7 deg C, 148.5 deg F, the boiling point of > methanol. The bigger the gap the better, but you don't need ice. If > the weather's real hot and it could use cooler water, or to prevent > having to change the water when it got hot (it gets hot), you could > rig a sort of inline evaporative drip cooling set-up the water would > go through en route from the condenser back to the reservoir (bucket > or whatever). I think that's quite easy and cheap, but you'd need > someone else to tell you exactly how. > > >Heater: Most likely I'll use a 1500w-1650w electric water heater threaded > >into the bottom of a 15 gallon metal drum. Girl Mark passed this heater > >idea to me when I was inquiring about a pre-heat WVO tank. The pre-heat > >tank can now serve a duel purpose. > > > >I'm not sure how I'm going to seal the lid. Being the drum is a standard > >size, I may be able to purchase a metal lid and a ring collar to seal it. > > That would be best. Make sure there's a seal in the lid (silicon or whatever). > > >For the methanol gas vapors, I imagine I would install a valve in the lid to > >the coaxial pipe, but could use some ideas? I'm not sure if I can mount a > >funnel-style lid as sealing this to a 15 gallon metal drum could be > >difficult Idea's??? > > Get a lid first and see what it offers. If there are caps you can > drill a hole in a cap and connect the condenser pipe to it. A direct > connection might be a little awkward if it's a screw-on cap, but you > could use a junction. > > regards > > Keith > > > >-Kevin 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 Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links a.. To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 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/
