Biodiesel Workshops in South Australia - May

Plans are being made to run some Biodiesel Workshops in May. Jonathon Thwaites will come from WA to run them with me.
2 are already planned, Victor Harbor and Henley Beach and 2 more are expected to be run.

• one east of Adelaide, (possibly Mt Barker or Murray Bridge)
• one north of Adelaide (possibly Gawler or Clare).

If there is sufficient interest in any particular area, this could be the decider for that area.
Please email me or leave a comment if you are interested.

Troopy running on Vegetable Oil

The Uraidla Show saw the Troopie being run on Straight Vegetable Oil for the first time.
The modifications had been done for about 2 weeks and tested with a couple of tanks of 100% Biodiesel to test out connections, heat exchanger operations, change-over valve operation and to clean out the system (because Biodiesel is a very good solvent for cleaning up after Petro-Diesel).
With these tests out of the way, it was with a little trepidation, I poured some of the oil that I crushed during the demos at the field days last year into the 2nd fuel tank and set off down the road.
After reaching operating temperature, the button was pushed to start running on the Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO). After waiting a suitable time, I carefully smelled the exhaust, and it smelled pretty good. Pretty much like cooked Canola! (The Exhaust had smelled pretty good before, as I was running B100 as my starting fuel)
The neighbours complained about the noise after about 20 minutes of idling, so I changed back to the B100, let the SVO be purged from the injector pump and turned it off.
At the end of the day, same thing, get the engine hot, switch to SVO, drive home, change back to (Bio)Diesel and turn off.
It was just like I had read in books, but seeing it myself was something else.
There were a number of people at Uraidla who expressed an interest in SVO modifications to their vehicles and now we will have kits available to suit their needs.
For those who want the security of a company with long experience in SVO conversions, or who want a Single Tank Conversion, we also have access to kits from Elsbett in Germany.

Uraidla Show & Sustainability Fair - 2007

Saturday 17 February saw temperatures in the high 30's (90's for the US) for the Uraidla & Summertown Show. I had a stall alongside the ATA to generate some interest in Biofuels and Biodiesel.
It was a great opportunity to introduce the concept of plant based fuel and meet with some of the locals who are already using or interested in making Biodiesel or running SVO in their engines.
I had the Oil Press setup, but not running. I also had the Troopy on display demonstrating the Straight Vegetable Oil modifications which have been made to it.
The temperature kept a lot of people away compared to previous years, but there was plenty of interest.

Biodiesel Course at Iowa State University

Something was said about timing. Clearly, this is an important issue at O'Hare airport where a 2 1/2 hour stop over turned into a 4 1/2 hour stop over and I lost my luggage for the first time.
The Biodiesel course has been very intense and of very high standard.
The morning was taken up with lectures and the afternoon with elective subjects and lab pracs.
The attendees are a diverse and interesting lot from a large number of locations including Argentina and Oz (me).
The photo on the left is the first lab prac where a 6 pack of Oregon beer is being awarded for the best Biodiesel in the room.

I didn't understand the significance of Oregon beer - they don't have Coopers here. :(

Biodiesel Workshop - 5 Days in Iowa

The Biodiesel Workshop in Iowa is only 5 days away.
http://www3.me.iastate.edu/biodiesel/
I am currently in Calgary which is pivotal to both Petroleum & Canola in Canada - kind of having "a bob each way".
Just before I left for North America I featured in the (South Australian) Stock Journal but I am unable to answer non-email enquiries. Somebody once said that timing is everything - I am finding out how true it is.
I hope that your crops are hanging in there.

More Field Days & Oil Yields

Since the Adelaide Show, I have been out and about.
I talked to 5 groups of school students at a Sustainable Living presentation run by the Mt Pleasant Natural Resource Centre, talked at the Coonalpyn Ag Bureau and attended Field Days in the (SA) Riverland and at Hart (near Clare).

At both Hart and the Riverland I ran the Oilpress with results indicating the need for good Canola Seed.

The Oil on the left was provided by Grantley Telfer from Ungarra and shows good oil quality with minimal sediment. About 60 Litres from about 150 Kg of grain.
The ABB (at Ruddall) tested the grain at 44.7% Oil, 7.9% Moisture and 19% Protein. The protein level of the meal would be about 28%.

The Oil on the right is oil that had been sitting in a bin for some time and I suspect that some of the oil has evapourated away. The volume is wel down, but the amount of sediment (as a proportion of the oil) is still relatively low. (37.2% Oil, 9.4% Moisture and 26.8% Protein). The Meal from this would be very good as a Feed supplement due to it high protein level.

The Oil on the left was crushed from some undersized grain that I used at the Hart Field Day.
The Oil yield was disappointing and the amount of sediment makes the oil of poor quality.
The Oil Expeller had a hard time crushing the small seeds. The meal was of a good quality and appeared to be quite dry but the oil yield was very disappointing.

My testing continues. If you have 5 to 15 tonnes of Canola you would like to press into meal for feed-lotting I am interested in doing some intensive pressing.

I am heading OS next week to attend a Biodiesel course in Iowa (USA) but will be back in early November.

Royal Show and upcoming events

We are at the Royal Adelaide Show this week, again guests of SAFF (this time it is SA Farmers Fuel).
SAFF have the only independent (of Oil Companies) retail structure in Australia and are strongly promoting Biofuels in the market place. They are working with us in promoting our presses and providing a market for the oil that the presses produce.
The presses provide an opportunity to add value to your farm outputs and working with SAFF gives you a ready market for the oil.
Additionally, if SAFF is providing your fuel, we have a potential for backloading of the Vegetable oil to the Biodiesel plant, closing the loop and reducing the cost (economic & environmental) of transport.
Other things that are happening.

1. Plans are being made to present Biodiesel Workshops around SA (and possibly Vic & NSW) - contact me if you are interested in having one in your part of the world.
2. In the coming weeks I will be talking at Mt Pleasant & Coonalpyn and demonstrating the press at the Riverland & Hart field days - come and have a look and ask lots of questions.
3. I am developing supply lines for sock filters and other Biodiesel processing stuff.
4. In October I am attending the 5 day Biodiesel course at the University of Iowa and meeting with Biodiesel entusiasts and suppliers in North America & Europe.

Any questions, comments or feedback is welcome, either here or by email.

Home from Cleve via the Crystal Brook Show

After a very busy 3 days in Cleve for the EP Field days we packed up and headed home.
Along the way we stopped off for the Crystal Brook show on Saturday 12th of August. The weather was perfect for the show and I was able to set up the display outdoors- and next to the stationary engine display.
The was a huge amount of interest in the whole Biodiesel concept with many people stopping by to look and ask lots of questions. Unfortunately I sold all of the copies of "From the Fryer to the Fuel tank" at Cleve, but I can supply them by mail to those want a copy/
We did a couple of demonstration pressings and the oil yield is continuing to improve.

Special thanks to the Crystal Brook Show people who squeezed me in at short notice.

2 Days in Cleve

On arrival at our site on Tuesday we found our entire display stand on the ground and flapping in the breeze.

Always be suspicious of towns near wind farms!

For 2 hours Simeon & I cleared up the fabric, straightened the poles and generally put the site back in order, we even did a demonstration at 11:00.
A kind person from the South Australian Farmers Federation took pity on us and invited us to relocate to their tent, where they had some vacant space.

A Big thankyou to the SA Farmers Federation.

There has been a lot of interest in Biofuels and Biodiesel. The demonstration presses have generated a lot of interest and as soon as the noise starts a large crowd forms. After nothing happens for 10 minutes, most of the crowd wanders away, but some of the more interested hang around and we have had some good contacts established.

It is looking like we will be demonstrating at the Crystal Brook on Saturday as we wend our way back to Ashton.

Stay tuned for more adventures. :)