Weekly Progress Report: Week 6

This week, Blake and Esmail have started the electolysis process in Esmail's dorm room. Using the rig they constructed, lab glassware, a Sinometer MS8268 digital multimeter, and an Extech 382280 power supply from the Physics department, several trials have been conducted as a "proof of concept" for electrolysis.

Figure 1: Initial electrolysis purification rig. From left to right: Multimeter, crude biodiesel, electrodes and beaker, graduated cylinder, and power supply.

Figure 2: Schematic of electrolysis purification rig.

Trial #1 was conducted on May 7th, 2013. 25 mL of crude biodiesel was drawn from the first batch made by Dong, Louis, and Jiaqi. The test ran for six hours, with electric current measurements being made every half hour. Current started at 14 microamps and dropped to 2 microamps.

Trial #2 was conducted on May 8th, 2013, using crude biodiesel from the second batch. The same procedure was followed. This time, current measurements were much lower and more inconsistent. Current was measured to be at 2 microamps and gradually rose to 7 microamps.

It was decided that the spacing of the electrodes during trials may have been inconsistent. Blake and Esmail decided to make new electrodes and a new jig. This new jig was made out of a piece of wood cut from the first jig. To preserve spacing, it was 15 mm wide, as with the first version. In lab, Blake and Esmail made new electrodes from .7 pencil lead. These new electrodes had greater surface area. In addition, the procedure was modified to let the beaker sit overnight after electrolysis and before pouring the sample into a storage vessel. This was found to increase the yield of precipitate at the bottom of the beaker.

Figure 3: Precipitate at the bottom of a beaker. Used in Trial 1.

Figure 4: Redesigned electrodes.

On the weekend of May 11th, Esmail conducted Trials #3 and 4. They both used biodiesel from the fourth batch. Trial 3 was run for 12 hours, with current readings taken every half hour for the first six hours. Trial 4 was run as the others, for only 6 hours.

Figure 5: Electrolysis purification rig prior to the start of Trial 3. Bic lighters were used to balance the electrodes.

Trial 3 started at 42 microamps and dropped to 6 at the end of the trial. Trial 4 started at 6 microamps and dropped to 1. All trials except Trial 1 produced biodiesel that had a clearer, lighter-colored appearance.

Figure 6: Several of the purified samples.

Also, in a partnership with Drexel University, Air Products of Allentown, PA has given financial support to this project. At the end of the project, the deliverables will be used by Drexel College of Engineering as examples to incoming freshman students.

Air Products employs 20,000 people. Its mission as a company is to make energy systems more efficient and practical. Environmental impact is also one of its top concerns. In the field of Biodiesel, Air Products has researched technology that recovers energy from glycerol, a byproduct of the biodiesel synthesis process.

Coming soon: Testing of the samples and comparison with water washing.