Biodiesel Testing

[Jonatben Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close Jonatben]

Hi everyone.

I am thinking of providing a service to small producers testing their biodiesel for them. I have the equipment for all the parameters of the Australian and European standards.

Is anyone interested?

email me on jonatben@gmail.com

I'm based in WA and I think I could get about a 2 day turn around even less if you don't use the oxidation stability equip and the other long tests.

[Robert Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Robert]

Re: Biodiesel Testing

Hi Jonatben,

Sounds interesting. Do you have a schedule of fees you could post up? I'd be interested to know if any home producers do get their stuff tested and how well it comes up?

Perhaps if you could think of some interesting way to market it to them to encourage them to get it tested, then more might invest in this in order to increase the quality of their processes.

I'm very interested in anything that can increase the quality and the reputation of biodiesel, so I'd be happy to help in whatever way I can with encouraging people to do so.

Perhaps you could initially offer a couple of freebees (or cheapies) to forum members and post the results. That would quickly and tangibly show the importance of proper testing. If people can see the results this way, they are more likely to contact you for more tests.

There's a guy in Sydney who was also offering biodiesel tests (not sure if you know of them already). After I posted this in the forum last year, I never heard since if anyone had used these services, so I'd be interested in what happens with you.

[Jonatben Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close Jonatben]

Re: Biodiesel Testing

I'm thinking of running a compitition to find the best home made biodiesel with a fee which would cover testing costs, (much lower than the industry average), nearest to australian standard wins, what do you think? I might include some other classes such as funniest colour biodiesel and the weirdest results etc........

[RASTEVE Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close RASTEVE]

Re: Biodiesel Testing

I'd be most interested in that competition. Keep me posted!

[joe Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close joe]

Re: Biodiesel Testing

I entertained the idea of a competition for a while but wasn't sure how it would go. I was thinking about the current tests that home user perform and we sort of do a self assessment, but a profesional and impartial person would be great. I'd go for that.

Joe

[Jonatben Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close Jonatben]

Re: Biodiesel Testing

I'm hoping to get more interest and then test...its good for us in the professional sector to encourage biodiesel use and its good for you to see where you are with your conversion etc.....I think it'll be a interesting way to see whats going on out there...especially comparing feedstocks..there are some weird ones we test with some unusual colours....please pot here if your interested and we can start it up...or if you have any ideas on how to get the word out there .........

[biomyown Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close biomyown]

Re: Biodiesel Testing

even though I do the 3/27 test I would still be interested in getting my bio tested, it's always good to have specs

what is the cost of the testing?

[gwalker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gwalker]

Re: Biodiesel Testing

Hi everyone.

I am thinking of providing a service to small producers testing their biodiesel for them. I have the equipment for all the parameters of the Australian and European standards.

Is anyone interested?

email me on jonatben@gmail.com

I'm based in WA and I think I could get about a 2 day turn around even less if you don't use the oxidation stability equip and the other long tests.

Great idea and I can see that everyone would get their bio tested if the price was <$20, but only once!

The problem as I see it is that every batch can start with wvo from different suppliers, with oil from a blend of feedstocks, titrating with different values, requiring different amounts of caustic.
So knowing that last weeks batch was a good batch, doesn't necessarily tell me anything about this weeks yield, unless it was from the same oil.

But I would be very interested to see results from different feedstocks to see what were the best to look out for.

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Biodiesel Testing

Providing that you test the oil parameters (particularly the Acidity of the oil by titration and water content - drying the oil as necessary) and adjust the process for the differences, you should be making consistently good biodiesel as this will account for the differences which affect the reaction..

There are tests you can do to check; the conversion (3/27 test), cloud point (Fridge & thermometer), water content (hot pan test) and relative viscocity (timing a known volume passing thru an orifice, compared to water & petro-diesel, at a specified temperature)

If these are stable, then in all probability, you have made the same quality biodiesel for each batch which passes these tests.

By all means have your biodiesel tested and report back here on the results. Then use the above tests to monitor subsequent batch quality.

NOTE: If your oil has a high cloud point, and this affects your use of the fuel, you can separate the cloudy oil by filtration so that you have clear oil for winter use. The filtrate can be melted into containers for summer use, by which time (higher ambient temperature) it should be liquid again.

Regards,
Tony

[robpenfold Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close robpenfold]

Re: Biodiesel Testing

I wish I could use your services. However, the problem I have is testing that conforms to ATO requirements. I need to test my fuel and send results to the ATO to qualify for the Clean Fuels Grant but the ATO will only accept testing results from a NATA approved lab and they now require full testing of every parameter which to my knowledge can only be done in one lab in Sydney and costs $2500.
Next month I am due for another test and I will challenge the ATO by sending my sample to the US for full testing which costs about $1000 which is a big saving. The Australian Standard is slightly different than the AS6751 although some of the tests are based on the AS6751. I hope the ATO will accept this but knowing the narrow mentality of public servants I do expect some flak from them.
So basically, I would be happy to use your services if you are NATA approved and can do full testing (this includes Cetane testing).
Rob