Biodiesel Homebrewing Classes- Austin, Mississippi, and Tenn

[girl mark]

I have three more biodiesel classes happening before winter (I'm not sure what I"m teaching where this winter yet):

Biodiesel Homebrewing Classes with biodiesel equipment build:

-Austin, TX Oct 27-28

-Hattiesburg, MS (actually Seminary MS) Nov 3-4 with barbeque/advanced equipment build on Nov 2nd

-Fayetteville, TN Nov 10-11


Some of you guys already know what I do, and if you're interested in learning to homebrew or just stopping by to say hello, there's plenty of space in the classes. I've got a 'no one turned away for lack of funds' policy, too. We usually wind up building reactors from the b100supply Appleseed processor kits in the classes, too, and in Mississippi, there's a special pre-class build session/barbeque/fish fry the evening before.

Topics covered:
titration
oil collection
emissions
SVO/biodiesel/solvent thinning options- differences and cautions
real-life quality problems and what to do to prevent them
easy biodiesel chemistry
practice making test batches, titrating oil, testing oil for water, etc
5% water prewash
two-stage base-base process
dewatering oil
washing biodiesel, equipment tricks related to washing
drying biodiesel
how to tell how much to wash or dry
dealing with really bad oil
testing, testing, testing
quality control factors and how they inter-relate
dealing with wash water safely
options for glycerine disposal
burning glycerine safely
fire safety
upsizing batches from the small homebrew systems
waterless "washing"
'open lab' for more practice

Equipment: static mixers, eductors, venturis, hydronic heating, solar heating, plumbing 101, bigger pumps, collections equipment, etc

The Mississippi and Tennessee classes will also have my super-fancy homebrew processor on a trailer, which has a methanol recovery unit and most of the above items to show.

More info:
http://www.girlmark.com/tour

[Josh]

She's been heavily involved in the independent "appleseed" biodiesel processor work, and helped greatly in the organizing of the national biodiesel co-op gathering the summer before last (I was in Germany this summer, so there may well have been a repeat this year, too).

I just wanted to add a positive reference to her work; I probably have a bit of credibility here by virtue of my long membership and my huge list of cars and engines owned.

Her posts about biodiesel are as authoritative as any you could buy.

-Josh