Dear Marco, I presume that you have read the http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html and their stuff on ethanol? It is an excellent place to start and concisely sets out all the major constraints.
Our work with agricultural engines showed that there is a considerable difference between the injection ports of small agricultural diesels so it might be a bit dangerous to generalise. Essentially though, we recommend starting and stopping on petro-diesel (or biodiesel if available). The exhaust pipe for the engine is taken out through a simple one-pass heat exchanger in the palm-oil fuel tank. After about 5 mins running on petro-diesel, the 40 litres of palm oil is warm enough to have similar flow properties as petro-diesel. So we turn off one fuel supply and move to the other. We also recommend running the engine on petro-diesel for the last five minutes of operation too. That way, everything is left free of fatty-acid residues which might cause corrosion (particularly if the engine is not going to be used for a while.) Ambient temperatures here rarely fall below 27C or rise above 34C. As a consequence, SPO is always liquid. This means that with some engines, you can actually start them on palm-oil. But we don't recommend it. Where are you precisely? What sort of engines do you want to use SPO with? What operations do you want the engines to perform (electricity generation, pumping, transport, ploughing etc.). What are your ambient temperatures? I have some experience of using ethanol/methanol blends with petroleum for spark-ignition engines. We did this work in New Zealand about twenty years ago and the results are well documented. However these are highly volatile fuels with low-flash points and are nothing like palm-oil really. Regards Michael --- marcohgcardoso <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Dear Michael, > > tks a lot for your help. So, we can use palm oil > direct without > transes.? > WHich motor modifications do you usually do? > > Do you know how to do the sme process with Ethanol? > Or anyone who > does it? > > regards, > > Marco > > --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Michael Allen > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Dear Marco, > > > > > > > I have plent of Palm Oil. When you mentioned > that > > > you used Straight > > > Palm Oil you hadn't transerterificate the oil? > > > > That is correct. The first stage of our program > was to > > demonstrate that oil-palm growers could run their > farm > > machinery on straight palm oil (SPO)by making > simple > > engine modifications. The overall aim of the > program > > is to stabilise oil prices for oil-palm growers. > That > > means that we are looking at all aspects of > palm-oil > > use. > > > > Incidentally, with respect to the high free fatty > acid > > feeds, the limit to the amount of FFA possible is > > probably related to the formation of water in > Alek's > > first stage esterification using sulfuric acid as > the > > catalyst. Thus 5%FFA in the oil means that 4mls of > > water are produced for every litre of oil. This > water > > increases soap formation in the second stage > (which is > > catalysed by sodium hydroxide). > > > > Alek Kak's method > > > (http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_aleksnew.html) > > reduces this impact by using 95% pure sulfuric > acid > > which has a strong affinity for water. He also > > recommends about 9 times the amount of methanol > > theoretically needed to react with the FFA. This > also > > has the effect of reducing the water > concentration. > > > > So, for high(er) FFA, more methanol and more > sulfuric > > acid should be beneficial. However, that means > more > > sodium hydroxide to neutralise the acid and some > form > > of methanol recovery system. We use a simple > condenser > > connected to the reactor to grab the methanol. We > can > > either recycle this to the next batch or operate > the > > reactor under total reflux. This makes it possible > to > > operate the reactor at a higher temperature and so > > accelerate the rate of the separate reactions. > > > > Hope this gives you some useful ideas > > > > Regards > > > > Michael Allen > > > > > > --- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Michael Allen > > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Dear David, > > > > > > > > We did extensive work last year on heated > Straight > > > > Palm Oil (SPO) in two-wheeled tractors and > fishing > > > > boat motors. We had field trials by local > farmers > > > of > > > > four commercial tractors and did test-bed work > > > with > > > > three others. Crude palm oil caused erosion of > the > > > > pistons by late ignition but refined palm-oil > (of > > > the > > > > grade used for cooking oil) worked well. But > we > > > never > > > > got around to using it in a locomotive. > > > > > > > > This year we have been trying a range of > reactor > > > > designs to optimise methyl ester production > from > > > > refined oil. We are now moving back through > > > various > > > > forms of oil "refinement" towards the crude > palm > > > oil > > > > (CPO). And yes, we are currently using the > Aleks > > > Kak > > > > two-stage process. And yes it is currently at > > > > atmospheric pressure (although the reactor was > > > > designed to handle 200 kPa mainly as a safety > > > feature. > > > > Even so, some enthusiastic welders have > > > > "overpressurised" it twice now through > forgetting > > > to > > > > flood (and then drain) it with water before > > > modifying > > > > the unit). > > > > > > > > The locomotive I mentioned is running on a B50 > > > blend: > > > > It uses esters from a one stage > > > trans-esterification > > > > reaction of methanol with the stearin and > palmitin > > > > which has separated from the CPO. This waxy > stuff > > > is > > > > probably quite comparable with the good > Scottish > > > lard. > > > > > > > > Lots of luck! > > > > > > > > Michael Allen > > > > > > > > --- Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > >Thanks for your response, prof. Allen. > I'll > > > > > formulate an inquiry to > > > > > >Mohammed Farid as you suggest. You > mentioned > > > Thai > > > > > railway application. I > > > > > >saw somewhere that German railways are > using > > > SVO in > > > > > some of their shunting > > > > > >engines. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,53591,00.html > > > > > Choo-Choo Trains on Energy Crunch > > > > > > > > > > >The encouraging part of your message is you > are > > > > > reacting at 60C and that > > > > > >this is near methanol boiling point. That > > > implies > > > > > you are succeeding at > > > > > >atmospheric pressure. Do you use conc. > > > sulphuric > > > > > acid first stage? I agree > > > > > >meth recovery is so simple that using > excess is > > > not > > > > > really a problem. > > > > > > > > > > > >David T. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > __________________________________________________ > > > > Do You Yahoo!? > > > > Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes > > > > http://finance.yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > > === message truncated === __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> 4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/MVfIAA/9bTolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://www.webconx.dns2go.com/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ 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/
