Building a processor with High School students

Had fun doing a processor build workshop with kids from Kamiak High School a couple weeks ago. The workshop was held in the diesel lab at the Sno Isle Skills Center in Mukilteo, WA, which the district uses to teach kids diesel mechanics- wish I could take the class! We had 7 students along with the chemistry teacher, John, and the diesel mechanics teacher Brent, who was a great asset- showing us their big diesel engines and explaining how they work. He also helped get the darn zinc anode out of the water heater with his air impact wrench when all else had failed!
They had ordered the b100supply Appleseed kit, so it seemed like it'd be no problem, except that they had gotten a gas water heater to start with, and that wouldn't do! So we started out the day with Brent and John rounding up an electric one- with amazing speed! - while I went over biodiesel basics with the kids.
Once we got the right water heater, and got that anode out, the rest was easy- we even made a 16 gallon batch using some of the waste fryer oil from the cafeteria..
Check out the pics from the day here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lesmithjr/BiodieselWorkshop

BioLyle's Biodiesel Workshop
http://biolyle.com

BioPro 190 fuel passes full ASTM series

The state of WA donated a complete ASTM test series for the fuel that we're producing with our BioPro 190, as you can see from the results on my fuel quality page here: http://biolyle.com/biopro/quality%20biopro%20fuel.html

that it passed nicely.. Total glycerin of 0.149 this time- we had that done a couple months ago and it was 0.122..

I do an overnight preheat of the oil in the machine to dry it which I think helps improve the reaction.. Am really psyched that we can produce such great fuel consistently.. Our oil usually titrates pretty low- 2 - 3 or so..

I love this machine!

Lyle

http://biolyle.com

Join Biznik!

I've been having fun with biznik, an online business networking community.. They also have all kinds of events where folks can meet each other, exchange ideas, and make valuable connections. I've gone to events the last two nights and met some great people. I'd recommend it to anyone who has any kind of business!