Factor E Farm Blog

Here we show the complete documentation of a biodiesel production run. The video shows the process from oil settling to fueling the car – with titration and addition of reactants in between. We used 5 parts of waste vegetable oil to one part methanol, with potassium hydroxide as the base. We produced about 42 gallons in this run.

Open Source Biodiesel Tutorial from Marcin Jakubowski on Vimeo.

Used vegetable oil containst partially decomposed oil molecules, which must be neutralized. To determine the quality of the oil, we do a titration. (more…)

Here we show the complete documentation of a biodiesel production run. The video shows the process from oil settling to fueling the car - with titration and addition of reactants in between. We used 5 parts of waste vegetable oil to one part methanol, with potassium hydroxide as the base. We produced about 42 ...

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I’m in the process of designing a simple 3kW steam engine for both a combined heat-and-power gasifier system and our solar power generator system. I can’t help but think about the future possibility of small-scale steam power for both stationary and mobile steam power applications.

In absence of a really suitable open source 3D CAD program, I downloaded a free trial version of Alibre Design Xpress 3D solid modeling software – to do a basic 3D model of the engine we’re building, for which we have a $250 bill of materials:

The basic concept is – as mentioned in a previous post – a high performance modern steam engine of 20% efficiency can be made without much technical difficulty. Remember that our present solar turbine design requires only 5% efficiency to become feasible.

Moreover, a simple direct coupling of the steam engine to a linear hydraulic pump -

means that you have a super-simple hydraulic power source for devices like our open source tractor, LifeTrac. This brings LifeTrac much closer to the reality of being powered by high performance, modern steam – via local production. As such, LifeTrac would become integrated into the local agricultural ecology – capable of being powered by a gasifier or pyrolysis oil from local biomass.

Now I’m busy on the standard steam engine of the 3D drawing above – so if you want to see the latter hydraulic pump hybrid come to reality sooner rather than later – contact us right now and let’s start talking about fabrication. By the way, there is a resurgence of interest in such hydraulic drive in the mainstream economy. (more…)

I’m in the process of designing a simple 3kW steam engine for both a combined heat-and-power gasifier system and our solar power generator system. I can’t help but think about the future possibility of small-scale steam power for both stationary and mobile steam power applications. In absence of a really suitable open source 3D ...

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After rain and more rain, a sunny day was warmly welcomed by all.

Yama (our dog)  sunbathed.

The chickens ate an extra helping of weed seed.

And we made biodiesel.

Actually, I continued diligently on soldering, caulking, and trimming the solar panels. Marcin cut metal for the panel frames.   I’ve been working on the panels for the last 3 months and Marcin is bored after doing anything twice, so, while important aspects of the operation here, these are hardly worth a post.

The biodiesel, on the other hand, is this beautiful amber-golden liquid that became a reality as we slept.  It finished its reaction overnight and all we had to do was pour off the glycerin from the bottom of the drum and then fill up the vehicles with fuel. That is newsworthy.  That is an engaging drama.  That is Factor E Live quality material.

Well, don’t get too excited yet.  We have the footage and will share the updates in the near future.  In the meanwhile, I thought you might enjoy a few pictures to wet your appetite.

From left to right: The heavier, darker glycerin is drained from the bottom of the reaction chamber.  Next, note the lighter color.  Some biodiesel is escaping with the last of the glycerin.  On the right, after all the glycerin has been drained off, we empty the liquid gold biodiesel from the tank.

After rain and more rain, a sunny day was warmly welcomed by all. Yama (our dog)  sunbathed. The chickens ate an extra helping of weed seed. And we made biodiesel. Actually, I continued diligently on soldering, caulking, and trimming the solar panels. Marcin cut metal for the panel frames.   I've been working on the panels for ...

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The spirits run high as Bob’s Bab Lab produces a roaring Babington burner flame at Factor e Farm:

Our next steps are to put a shroud around the flame for flame continuity, and installing a water heat exchange coil in the shroud for hydronic heating, steam generation, and other applications. We are currently considering a CEB masonry stove – the CEB kachelofen – as a center of our CEB additions. We would like to use this stove for hydronic heating, cooking, drying, and soon as a steam source for combined heat and power.Any details on winding techniques for continuous steel tubing are welcome. We are considering a 100 foot coil of 1/2″ or 3/4″ heat exchange coil – which we are trying to wind in a 6 inch spiral. Also, details on a possible masonry stove design are welcome.

The spirits run high as Bob's Bab Lab produces a roaring Babington burner flame at Factor e Farm: Our next steps are to put a shroud around the flame for flame continuity, and installing a water heat exchange coil in the shroud for hydronic heating, steam generation, and other applications. We are currently ...

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Yesterday, LifeTrac rolled out of the shop under the power of its own engine. It purred like a cat, turning smoothly over the ground with its articulated steering. Brittany, Jessica, and I celebrated with elderberry champagne. Farm-fresh organic, of course.

That was a great moment for the Global Village Construction Set – as I am seeing each of the pieces come to life right under my eyes, getting us ever closer to an amazing, integrated ecology of living and working – fueled and fed by the sun, plants, and soil around us. (sorry, we’ll post some videos when our Canon SD750 digital camera arrives in a couple of days).

Theres’s more work to be done on LifeTrac – installing the loader and backhoe, building the rototiller/auger attachment, and mounting the CEB press as a tractor implement. With these pieces the infrastructure for building with the CEB will be complete.

I am completely delighted with LifeTrac because of its adaptability. Next year, we aim to build a flash steam engine for it – and power it by pyrolysis oil from our own trees. 100% local organic tractor power – how sweet indeed. With the CEB, and proposed swingblade sawmill, hay baler, agricultural combine (the top dog of all agricultural machinery), and well-drilling rig attachments – all open source – that will be one versatile, life-size erector set of appropriate modern technology. We hope that this will be no less than a significant contribution to the ecological evolution of humanity, similar to Gandhi’s vision of appropriate production as is also practiced by Tinytech Plants in India.

Yesterday, LifeTrac rolled out of the shop under the power of its own engine. It purred like a cat, turning smoothly over the ground with its articulated steering. Brittany, Jessica, and I celebrated with elderberry champagne. Farm-fresh organic, of course. That was a great moment for the Global Village Construction Set - as I am ...

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Based on a personal gasifier, care of Dr. Yuyi Lin , Mike Koch, et al:

which generates gas from any cellulosic biomass:

we can take the process further to make liquid fuels – such as diesel. Utilizing Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, a process proven on a large scale:

(from Wikipedia)

our collaboratory will evaluate the possibilities for optimization for small-scale fuel generation. We mean personal fuel makers – a radical proposition. We are currently writing a grant proposal for this – and will consider a dual license – free to small producers, and royalty-based for companies with gross sales of a million or more dollars. Please view this historical website for progress on the Fischer-Tropsch process to date – and comment on key issues and possibilities.

Based on a personal gasifier, care of Dr. Yuyi Lin , Mike Koch, et al: which generates gas from any cellulosic biomass: we can take the process further to make liquid fuels - such as diesel. Utilizing Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, a process proven on a large scale: (from Wikipedia) our collaboratory will evaluate the possibilities for optimization for small-scale ...

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Today I had an interesting conversation with Fabio Barone, a Master’s of Science student in Holistic Science at Schumacher College. We discussed bioproducts – biofuels, bioplastics, and others – which are one of the keys to localization and the Global Village Construction Set. He is writing his thesis on bioproducts – within the context of sustainable communities and open source development – which is much needed discussion. I look forward to seeing his conclusions.

I suggested to Fabio that perhaps evaluating the real story behind biofuels could be an interesting exploration in his thesis. By biofuels, I mean root crops or fruit – and in particular, Jerusalem artichokes – which are my favorite because they are self-seeding. When you harvest the crop, a full crop always comes up the year after from little pieces of root left behind. You can harvest with a potato harvester. This is as easy and ecological as it gets, it seems.

Point is, the calculation remains – and you should go through the math yourself – the area similar to the area of any city is required to grow all the fuel for the city’s cars. That means land requirements are not high (unlike corn alcohol). Jerusalem artichoke tuber yields are typically 15 tons per acre! This is similar to other root crops – but I know of no other suitable perennials.
Thus, why hasn’t such a means of production proliferated all over the world? Or, even more simply, why have I not heard of at least one person harvesting such Jerusalem artichoke alcohol biofuel successfully on a small scale? This is one of those questions that are pressing for me – and this should be a disturbing question for anyone interested in localization. We are going to find out in the next 2 or so years for ourselves. Any comments from anyone in the know on the topic?
I understand that the sugar in Jerusalem artichokes is not readily accessible, but that is not difficult to overcome – such as by preheating the fermentation mix with solar energy.

Today I had an interesting conversation with Fabio Barone, a Master's of Science student in Holistic Science at Schumacher College. We discussed bioproducts - biofuels, bioplastics, and others - which are one of the keys to localization and the Global Village Construction Set. He is writing his thesis on bioproducts - within the context ...

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The cold weather blew in to join us at the harvest Thanksgiving dinner. We had our first snow of the season and our first bio-butter: biodiesel which solidified due to the cold. No, we did not spread it on the dinner rolls. And fortunately, we did not put it in the car. A day before it was a reddish liquid. A night of cold temperatures brought our biodiesel to its knees. There are techniques out there (I need to do my research) to keep it liquid during cold temperatures but at least it doesn’t gum up injectors (like pure veggie oil) in such frigid circumstances.

The cold weather blew in to join us at the harvest Thanksgiving dinner. We had our first snow of the season and our first bio-butter: biodiesel which solidified due to the cold. No, we did not spread it on the dinner rolls. And fortunately, we did not put it in the ...

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