Methanol sources

Washington
Tarr, Inc 4510 B St NW # B Auburn, WA 98001	253-859-2979	KOH, Methanol	Map It
Advanced Toys for Trucks 12803 Hwy 99 Everett, WA	425-485-3682	Methanol	Map It
G&M Honest Performance 33210 Pacific Highway South Federal Way, WA, 98003	253-838-7070	Methanol	Map It
Wilcox & Flegel 940 Industrial Way Longview, WA	360-423-7600 open 7:30-6:00	Methanol	Map It
Cascade Columbia Distribution Co. 6900 Fox Ave. S. Seattle, WA. 98108 206-763-2350	KOH,	Methanol	, sulfuric acid
Ronald G. Grogan CHEMCENTRAL 6308 E. Sharp Ave. Spokane Valley, WA	866-885-2605	Methanol	Map It
Pacific Coast Chemicals 530 Andover Park West Tukwilla, WA 98188	206-223-0006	KOH, NaOH

Oilseed Fun in Montana

As a city slicker, I'm used to finding my oil ready made (ie in the oil dumpster out back of the restaurant). A missing piece for me has been how's that stuff get produced to begin with. At the MSU Oilseed & Biodiesel Conference in Billings last week, I learned a thing or two about farmin', crushin', and doin' some real work! This day and a half conference was excellent, complete with the perspective of the farmers, the scientists (featuring world-renowned biodiesel expert Jon van Gerpen from Univ of Idaho biodiesel ed program), economists, and government officials. My favorite presentations were by a rancher Ken deBoer who with little previous farming experience, decided he wanted to try and grow his own fuel. He planted camelina seed on two lots that he said were bad and really bad as far as soil quality. And without watering or fertilizing he was able to actually get plants to grow, gathered seed, crushed it and produced some oil- about 14 gallons from his two 1/2 acre lots (and 500 lb of seed). His yield was only about 350 lb per acre, which is low compared to the 1000+ lb some have achieved. His one-ton crusher was real slow (and is now for sale!), and he learned a lot of other things about the process. Another speaker pointed out that you can save yourself a lot of time and money if you use a bigger crusher and just get the job done faster.
Interesting fact- the cake from camelina crushing is highly nutritious with very high protein content- cows love it!
The presentations from this and other Montana biodiesel workshops are now online here.

After the workshop, we visited a farm where they had an oil seed press up and running. They were still breaking the crusher in, with not a lot of oil coming out yet. Apparently the crushing screw has to be worn smooth before it becomes very efficient. Their operation looked very Rube Goldberg and kinda like a scene from the movie Brazil- with the steam billowing out (used to heat the press), and the separate motor galloping along, with long drive belts flapping about. Check out the short video of these intrepid crushers: by the way, the crusher is from tinytechindia.com
Here's the you tube crushin' vid..



Happy crushin'...

BioLyle
http://biolyle.com

Eathrace ship trying for around-the-world record on biodiesel

Talk about committment! Not only are they spending millions on the record attempt, but the captain and some of the crew even underwent liposuction to contribute some fuel from their own bodies to the effort- see this article and nice short video promo: http://blog.wired.com/cars/2007/12/around-the-worl.html
I was on the boat when it visited Seattle last year- it is amazing!