Mixing Methoxide to Make Biodiesel

Video Transcript

"CRAYDON BLAIR: My name is Craydon Blair and on behalf of Utah Biodiesel Supply and Expert Village, I'm going to tell you how to mix your methoxide to make biodiesel. It's kind of dangerous so it's important to have your gloves on, have your apron on and have your safety goggles on, and be in a fairly well ventilated area. What I've done is I've gotten something I can measure with, you don't necessarily need to have beaker like this. You can go into the store in the kitchen section and get something like this but you need to measure out 100 milliliters of methyl alcohol. Methyl alcohol is the yellow bottle of Heet. It's the quickest way to get it and you're going to pour it into this container or whatever container you use until you hit the 100 milliliter mark. Once you're in the 100 milliliter mark then you're going to take out your lye or your potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide, it's a common name for it. We're going to mix it into there. I've poured about 4 to 5 grams into this methoxide and I began stirring it just gently so that it begins to dissolve into this liquid. You want it to dissolve fully before you can make biodiesel, otherwise the chunks are going to turn into soap. So, I've got some in here and we're stirring it around and we're just waiting for it to completely dissolve. Once it's dissolved then we'll use it and we'll throw it in our biodiesel."