I keep hearing, "You can make your own biodiesel at home for $1 a gallon!" and finally decided to get off my arse and look into it (metaphorically; reading about it on the interwub I was actually still on my arse). I knew the basic gist of the esterification reaction: TRIGLYCERIDE (a.k.a. lipid, a.k.a. fat or oil) + 3ALCOHOL ----> 3ESTERS (biodiesel) + GLYCERINE. But reading this how-to got me all excited. The basic reaction is an esterification, but it also uses a strong base (NaOH, found in lye) to catalyze the lipid breakdown. And how do you figure out how much NaOH to use? You do a titration! If I end up teaching chemistry I can SO use this as a lab. A lab that teaches a practical skill! How awesome is that? As an added bonus, the recipe linked above calls for solid NaOH, which gives me the opportunity to teach students that some salts, such as NaOH, are deliquescent, meaning it has such a high affinity for water that it will suck the moisture out of the air to dissolve itself, and as a result you never know the exact concentration of your NaOH solution until you've done--guess what?--ANOTHER titration! [The recipe leaves that step out, but in a lab setting will I? NO!] Two titrations and an esterification in ONE lab!! Wooooo!
So the recipe basically goes:
1. Dissolve & titrate sodium hydroxide to create known NaOH solution
2. Titrate NaOH with lipid/isopropanol mixture to determine reactant ratios
3. CH3OH (methanol) + NaOH ---> Na+CH3O- (sodium methoxide) + H2O
4. LIPID + 3Na+CH3O- ---> 3METHYL ESTERS (biodiesel) + GLYCERINE
5. Let sit to separate
6. Profit. (If I can figure out how to purify the waste glycerine I can use it in the lab as a glassware/rubber tubing lube, saving the school money. If the district can be convinced to run buses on biodiesel the reaction can be run on a large scale using donated restaurant grease--everybody loves donating shit to schools, and currently most restaurants pay to have their grease hauled away.)
I am SO. GEEKED. right now.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
6.03.2008
5.31.2008
Success! ... and then maybe more succes! Or alternately, theft.
[Imported from somewhere less pseudonymous]
Three facts about me:
1. I grocery shop by bus as infrequently as possible and have a great deal of trouble getting two massive handfuls of plastic bags full of food home.
2. I feel bad using massive handfuls of plastic bags, even though I reuse them as garbage bags.
3. I like camping.
Considering these three facts together, this weekend I invested in a hiking backpack. Expensive? Yes. BUT! Going camping no longer includes the bother of finding a backpack to borrow. Plus, I thought, I can take it with me grocery shopping and load all my foods and stuff in there, resulting in fewer plastic bags and sore hands. Today was the first test run. I purchased $100 of groceries, including 2.25 gallons (18 pounds) of liquid, which would've torn my fingers off if carried as typical. I jammed the liquids and most of the other stuff in my shiny new backpack, with only one plastic bag's worth left over (I was on the verge of missing the bus; might've managed to fit it all in the backpack if I'd had time to engage better packing strategery). Getting it home on the bus? Effortless. Except the part where the driver missed my stop and I had to be all "'Scuse me!" That added a dozen or so yards to my walk (there's a bus stop right afront my building), which would've been torture with bags. Again, effortless with the backpack. I win! And my stuff, despite spending a bus ride all banging around in a backpack, is not ruined. The gallon jug of orange juice is a little misshapen, but that's all.
In other news, I decided my lettuce is a lost cause. Have I mentioned my lettuce? I decided to start up a window box, which I planted with basil and salad mix, having been told that leafy things like lettuces do well in low light. Had some trouble finding a long narrow planter that would work for the window situation, then found my mom had one, so she just gave it to me when I was helping her move. Win. So I threw some dirt in it, threw some seeds in the dirt, threw some water on the seeds in the dirt, got sprouts and... that's about it. No sign of secondary leaves anywhere. I guess lettuces don't do quite so well in light this low. Today I figured, there's sun outside. Why don't I just stick it out there? My erstwhile window box now resides in a sunny spot on the south side of my building, with my apartment number carved into it. Best case: it grows into food. Worst case: it gets stolen. In which case, the planter was free, the dirt and seeds were cheap, it's one less thing I have to move in August, and it wasn't doing anything in my apartment anyway; best of luck to whomever ends up with it.
Speaking of when I move in August, I'm starting to get into "I don't want to have all this shit to move" mode and am becoming motivated to divest myself of much of my shit. Problem is, most of my shit is books. And whereas I've read most of them once and then never touched them again, I like having them. It makes me feel wealthy. In, you know, knowledge and culture and stuff. On the other hand, they represent Stuff that I have and don't use, that will increase the amount of work it takes to move, and that could be exchanged for money. ANGST AND CONFLICT!
UPDATE: Window box stolen.
Three facts about me:
1. I grocery shop by bus as infrequently as possible and have a great deal of trouble getting two massive handfuls of plastic bags full of food home.
2. I feel bad using massive handfuls of plastic bags, even though I reuse them as garbage bags.
3. I like camping.
Considering these three facts together, this weekend I invested in a hiking backpack. Expensive? Yes. BUT! Going camping no longer includes the bother of finding a backpack to borrow. Plus, I thought, I can take it with me grocery shopping and load all my foods and stuff in there, resulting in fewer plastic bags and sore hands. Today was the first test run. I purchased $100 of groceries, including 2.25 gallons (18 pounds) of liquid, which would've torn my fingers off if carried as typical. I jammed the liquids and most of the other stuff in my shiny new backpack, with only one plastic bag's worth left over (I was on the verge of missing the bus; might've managed to fit it all in the backpack if I'd had time to engage better packing strategery). Getting it home on the bus? Effortless. Except the part where the driver missed my stop and I had to be all "'Scuse me!" That added a dozen or so yards to my walk (there's a bus stop right afront my building), which would've been torture with bags. Again, effortless with the backpack. I win! And my stuff, despite spending a bus ride all banging around in a backpack, is not ruined. The gallon jug of orange juice is a little misshapen, but that's all.
In other news, I decided my lettuce is a lost cause. Have I mentioned my lettuce? I decided to start up a window box, which I planted with basil and salad mix, having been told that leafy things like lettuces do well in low light. Had some trouble finding a long narrow planter that would work for the window situation, then found my mom had one, so she just gave it to me when I was helping her move. Win. So I threw some dirt in it, threw some seeds in the dirt, threw some water on the seeds in the dirt, got sprouts and... that's about it. No sign of secondary leaves anywhere. I guess lettuces don't do quite so well in light this low. Today I figured, there's sun outside. Why don't I just stick it out there? My erstwhile window box now resides in a sunny spot on the south side of my building, with my apartment number carved into it. Best case: it grows into food. Worst case: it gets stolen. In which case, the planter was free, the dirt and seeds were cheap, it's one less thing I have to move in August, and it wasn't doing anything in my apartment anyway; best of luck to whomever ends up with it.
Speaking of when I move in August, I'm starting to get into "I don't want to have all this shit to move" mode and am becoming motivated to divest myself of much of my shit. Problem is, most of my shit is books. And whereas I've read most of them once and then never touched them again, I like having them. It makes me feel wealthy. In, you know, knowledge and culture and stuff. On the other hand, they represent Stuff that I have and don't use, that will increase the amount of work it takes to move, and that could be exchanged for money. ANGST AND CONFLICT!
UPDATE: Window box stolen.
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