Biodiesel Workshops with Maria 'girl Mark' Alovert, April-August 2008

********************************
Class Descriptions:
*********************************

I regularly teach four different classes:

-Biodiesel Essentials (2 days including 'Appleseed' reactor build and more lab time) or Introduction to Homebrewing (one day, more rushed)
-System Tricks- hands-on reactor operations and tricks class for those with some experience or those who've taken any prior class
-Equipment Building Intensive (two days, includes building GL1 EcoSystem equipment, methanol recovery, advanced wash tanks, Turk Burners, pumps, and more). No experience necessary.
-Advanced Topics (two days, discussion-based advanced topics class for those with experience or those who've taken a prior class)

This spring I'm also offering a special class similar to Advanced Topics:
Outgrowing The Appleseed (similar to Advanced Topics, this is a class on larger processors such as farm-scale systems that do not necessarily use standard commercial technology. Prerequisite: must have prior experience with making small batches of biodiesel or attend the Introduction class on Friday first)
***********************************************************************************************************

Descriptions of classes:

One-day Introduction To Biodiesel Homebrewing

April 4, Wilmington, NC
May 22, Oakland, CA
or
May 30, Grayslake, Il
No Experience necessary
$75, 9-5
Introduction class:
This is a one-day, sped-up version of my usual weekend Biodiesel Essentials class. We run through all the information much faster than a two-day class, skip a few topics, and we don't build any equipment.

Biodiesel Essentials:
Pittsboro, NC May 3-4
Marietta, OH, May 17-18
Oklahoma City, OK area June 21-22
San Pedro, New Mexico, August 9-10
$120, class is 10-5 each day Sat and Sunday

Biodiesel Essentials is a two-day class for either beginners or those who want a refresher on quality control.
This is similar to Introduction To Homebrewing, but includes much more time to cover more information, more hands-on time, and a three-hour equipment building sesssion or 'lab' session to explore topics you're interested in in more depth.

Some topics covered in both Introduction to Homebrewing and the Biodiesel Essentials classes:
biodiesel/SVO/solvent thinning options and history, biodiesel chemistry, testing oil (titration and water testing), (hands-on), making test batches (hands-on), an overview of equipment, a tour of the full Appleseed-type for the Wilmington, Grayslake, and Pittsboro classes, long discussion of quality control factors, quality testing (hands-on), mistwashing and other water washing options, breaking emulsion (hands-on), two-stage base biodiesel, waste water and glycerine disposal, water reuse and uses for glycerine, common pitfalls, hands-on experience recovering from failed batches and emulsion, safety

**********************************************************
Two-day Reactor Mechanics and System Tricks Class
10-4 each day
Wilmington, NC, April 5-6
or
Pittsboro, NC, June 28-29
Must have prior exprience or attend the Introduction class on Friday April 4 or any Biodiesel Essentials class I offer
$120, 9-5

One-day Reactor Mechanics and System Tricks class
Oakland, CA
Two separate sessions offered: May 23, or 24
Must have prior experience or attend Introduction class offered on May 22, or any other prior hands-on biodiesel workshop.
$75, 9-5

This class is geared to people who already know how to make biodiesel, either in a lab-scale or one-liter setting, or to who already homebrew but would like to compare notes with me on how I manage my system. You may also take this class if you are new to biodiesel but have attended a regular homebrewing class taught by someone else. We dont go into a lot of detail on titration and chemistry here so that’s the info you should have ‘down’ already on your own prior to taking this 'system tricks' class. If you feel like you've researched biodiesel production heavily but have little practical experience this is probably the best of my classes for you, if you can already titrate oil and make test batches, and understand the basic steps involved.

In the System Tricks class we make a full-size batches of biodiesel in the Appleseed processor, wash the batch in a heavily modified drum-based wash tank, discuss Graham Laming EcoSystem vapor recovery piping for safety, and discuss methanol recovery (and POSSIBLY run the still in the Wilmington class, depending on our site's electrical availability, which currently has me limited to insufficient power to run all the equipment at once). We will cover a lot of the finer details that make the process efficient, safer, produce higher quality fuel, cheaper, and produce fewer messes. We will run a multifuel Turk Burner and discuss ways to safely heat using waste oil burners and glycerine-burning methods.

The one-day class in Oakland uses my own unique system: an unconventional modified large Appleseed processor and special wash tanks installed indoors inside a welding shop, which means we had to take special precautions to make the system safer in that environment (we don't weld and make biodiesel at the same time, of course). We will also discuss methanol recovery, waterless wash using Amberlite and Purolite, and flash evaporators. This is a one-day class, you can attend either on Friday, or Saturday, the week before Memorial Day. There is an Introduction class for those with no prior experience on Thursday May 22.

***************************************************************
Biodiesel Equipment Building Intensive:
Pittsboro, NC June 14-15

the Biodiesel Equipment Building Intensive class builds equipment and includes a heavy emphasis on system design and equipment theory.
This two-day class will build a reactor, including a possible Apple Turnover system, a methanol recovery condensor, inexpensive homebuilt pumps, wash tanks, other washing equipment, methanol/lye mixing equipment, and a Graham Laming-style EcoSystem vapor recovery system. Contact me if you'd like to purchase parts to build any of this for yourself. In addition, the Pittsboro class will include a tour of the Piedmont Biodiesel Co-op and we will discuss their equipment and it's advantages and shortcomings. We will discuss experimental continuous process equipment as well.

***************************************************************
Advanced Topics Class
9-5 each day
April 26-27
Brooksville, FL

July 26-27
Pittsboro, NC

Must have prior experience or attend a beginners' class. Florida folks, see www.groups.yahoo.com/group/FloridaBiodiesel for info on a March 30 class taught by three of my recent students. Pittsboro attendees without experience should attend any of my other Introduction or Essentials classes in the area first.

Topics covered in the Advanced Topics class:

Strong focus on quality control, analysis of real-world problems with offspec biodiesel, acid-base biodiesel process, advanced topics in dewatering, testing for soap, methanol recovery and equipment design, testing recovered methanol for purity, waterless washing with Amberlite, Magnesol, and Graham Laming's process, larger-scale equipment design, ethanol-based and E-85-based biodiesel, treating wash water and glycerine for disposal, testing wash water and glycerine, real-world test results related to biodegradability, in-depth disposal/sidestreams discussion
burning glycerine safely for energy, hydronic applications for biodiesel and wash water heating, more advanced discussion of safety and disaster prevention scenarios for larger-scale processor systems, discussion of regulatory topics for non-commercial producers larger than homebrew, solar heating options, very through discussion/demonstration of several different options in washing, including drawbacks and advantages, greywater systems for wash water recycling.

The Pittsboro Advanced Topics Class will include a tour of the Piedmont Biofuels Co-op site, a discussion of a continuous process used by the co-op, and a tour of the biodiesel analytical laboratory at Central Carolina Community College. The Brooksville Fl Advanced Topics Class will include attendees with a lot of experience with the BioPro processor and the GL1 (Eco-System) methanol recovery/waterless washing process.

***************************************************************

Outgrowing The Appleseed:
currently only offered in Grayslake, IL May 31-June 1 (with an optional Introduction class on May 30)

This class falls somewhere between System Tricks and Advanced Topics (with some information from both as well as new information), and focuses on what is often called 'farm-scale' and 'fleet-scale'. This class covers production considerations for systems in the 250-gallon to 600-gallon range, with some information on continuous process alternatives to the batch system.

The concern with this scale of processing is about applying homebrew or hobby-scale techniques to larger production, which often brings about greater safety concerns and more complicated quality control considerations.

While homebrewing is a great way to become familiar with biodiesel production and a great way to go through 'the learning curve' with unparalleled support from the online homebrew community, the process becomes more complicated on a larger scale.

Some homebrew-scale techniques and equipment scale up to larger batch sizes, while many do not. For those making biodiesel for fleet/business/farm use, serious concern has to be paid to efficiency and safety to make this scale of production make financial sense. Scaling up from hobby-scale to this size of production sometimes brings on regulatory issues that homebrew scale producers do not deal with, yet production on this scale is still typically a do-it-yourself effort where producers don't tend to seek out engineering assistance and sometimes risk bigger messes and accidents than either homebrewers or commercial producers tend to experience. This class will cover some of the issues that have come up for fleets, co-ops, and farm production, from an equipment, safety, and quality control perspective.

This class is for people with past biodiesel experience, or those who attend the one-day Introduction class on Friday May 30, or a similar introductory hands-on biodiesel production class.

See www.girlmark.com/tour for more information, to register, and for other classes to be added soon.

Contact me at classregistration@girlmark.com