Hi All,
Just a quick word of caution about backyard methanol.
There's no such thing, as yet. You can't make methanol in your
backyard, as both Walt and I have just explained. You can distill
ethanol, and it will have minute amounts of methanol in the first bit
which you discard. But you can't make methanol in any usable amounts.
It definitely is not
ethanol. The direct meaning is it is a deadly toxin than can be readily
absorbed through the skin and inhaled into the lungs. I«m certain a very
small percentage of the population has a very small capacity to detoxify
this in their liver.
Everybody can, and it's not as deadly as you make out. In fact it's a
common household item, sold in supermarkets and hardware stores, and
other common household items are more dangerous than methanol. It's
used as a dinner-table barbecue and fondue fuel, kids use it in their
model aeroplane motors.
Yes, it's dangerous, but we deal with dangerous things all the time
in our daily lives. I don't think methanol has held any perils for
biodiesel makers since we left the dark old days of From the Fryer to
the Fuel Tank behind, years ago. Use closed containers and closed
processors as Journey to Forever and all other responsible websites
advise, don't be sloppy or careless, follow the safety instructions,
and it's an easily managed hazard. I'm not downplaying it, our
website constantly emphasises safety, but a lot of people overplay
the methanol "hazard", as you're doing.
The vast majority can«t tolerate it at all. In direct
laymans terms, first you go blind then you die usually of acidosis.
You have to drink at least a couple of tablespoonsful for that to
happen. So what? Are you going to try that with paint remover, or
drain cleaner, or cellulose thinners? Or gasoline? The fumes are
dangerous, but it only fumes when it's hot, and that hazard is
completely removed with closed containers and closed processors.
Sounds
scary and painful to me. I«m trying desperately to use ethanol when I make
Bio D. I«ve had some success. But quite frankly I have never had a bad batch
when I used methanol. I«m fairly certain I know why but won«t mention it
here cause it«s probably in the archieves that Keith keeps pounding on me to
read. :-> Sorry but the letters are just too darn interesting for the
moment.
You're supposed to consult the archives BEFORE you post and ask
questions, not as an ever-postponed afterthought. It's one of the
List rules, which you were referred to when you joined the list, and
which you're obliged to read, and to follow:
"If you don't see what you're interested in, just ask. Or check the
archives first to see if it has been dealt with previously, and then
ask."
"Please make use of the resources listed at the Biofuel list home page:
http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel
"Especially the searchable list archives:
http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
"The archives contains more than 38,000 messages over nearly five
years. The question you want to ask or the topic you're interested in
has probably already been covered. That's no reason not to ask it
again, but if you know what's gone before you'll ask a better
question and get better answers."
Otherwise we just keep on rehashing the same old stuff again and
again and again, and the sheer tedium of it drives people away after
awhile - and these are the ones with the experience, so the whole
community suffers.
I hope you've got that straight now.
Keith Addison
Journey to Forever
KYOTO Pref., Japan
http://journeytoforever.org/
Biofuel list owner
Tom Irwin
-----Original Message-----
From: Henri Naths
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: 1/04/05 15:08
Subject: Re: [Biofuel] Methanol backyard manufacturing possible?
short answer yes. (methanol.. backyard) if money is no object.H.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Mountain" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: 31 March, 2005 6:20 PM
Subject: [Biofuel] Methanol backyard manufacturing possible?
> As a newcomer to the biodiesel world I was wondering if it was
possible to
> make methanol in your "backyard" so to speak? And the other question
is it
> possible to make biodiesel with ethanol? I am putting together a
proposal
> for an East African country to follow Brazils lead and have to do some
> homework first.
> selam,
> tom mountain
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