Charles,
are you refining your own biodiesel? YES!
If so, are you using methanol? YES!
Is it dangerous? YES!
Do you end up with a waste product? YES!
Start with 100 litres of filtered used vegetable oil - filtered through her tights will be enough, and the oil must NOT be contaminated by water.
Warm the oil up to about 50°C.
Now, put on good goggles, and long rubber gloves.
Take 15 litres of methanol (methyl alcohol, CH
3OH) and VERY SLOWLY, while stirring all the time with a WOODEN paddle of some sort, add about 850 grams of SODIUM HYDROXIDE (NaOH) .
THIS WILL HEAT UP!
IT IS A FIERCE CHEMICAL REACTION!!
IT WILL produce a nasty solution of SODIUM METHOXIDE in methanol.
Sodium methoxide kills nerve cells so quickly that pain will not be felt.
There is NO recovery from this.
Sodium methoxide is a VERY NASTY substance requiring extreme care in handling. NEVER STORE it! make it and use it right away.
Anyway, once all the sodium hydroxide crystals have disappeared, you start stirring the OIL (I have an electric stirring machine that does this) and pour the methanol / methoxide solution into the oil.
Stir it till tomorrow or so, and then stop stirring it.
Separation will begin immediately.
In a few hours there will be a heavy dark layer of about 15 litres lying under about 100 litres of beautiful honey-coloured 20 pence a litre biodiesel. All the crap that might have been left in the oil will have dropped out into the dark layer of glycerol at the bottom.
Syphon the BioDiesel off carefully and tip it in your tank.
CharlesY