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Probably the world's first intrinsically safe,
all in one, homebrew biodiesel plant. The design
features a hand operated mixer and main pump,
the cost effective way to comply with ATEX regulations
and run a legal and safe biodiesel production
plant for your own vehicle. Based on two weldable,
heavy duty open top powder drums. Full, professional
3D expanded drawing are given with explanations
of the design logic learnt from 7 years of experience
on larger industrial applications. Comes
with operating instructions on how to make the
highest quality biodiesel from waste cooking oil/
rapeseed oil etc.
Price for the plans: £95.00 (reduced from £145), including postage to the UK only.
Availability: NOW. £95.00: |
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| For outside the UK: $209.00, including worldwide postage:
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| Includes free upgrades DVD (PAL format) of step by step assembly
and free telephone or email consultancy (you phone
us). Use of the plans is subject to terms
and conditions. Basically, one machine per plans
purchase. The build requires somebody
with good welding and plumbing skills. Time to build this machine = 4 to 5 days, start to finish. The plans include a fully comprehensive parts list, recommending the cheapest places to buy from, so that the build cost is kept to a minimum, a schematic diagram so that you can understand what you are building and many useful 3D representations and real life photos to give extra clarity. In total, there are 30 A4 pages of information including 12 colour photographs. |
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Why is this machine safe and not others? Answer: The machine has been professionally designed to meet the European regulations for equipment using explosive chemicals such as methanol. Most other machines pose a serious hazard to the operators as they use non-compliant equipment in the 'methanol zone'. An example is the use of ordinary non-ATEX rated electric pumps for mixing the biodiesel reactants, which contain methanol. We use a hand operated mixer, which we believe to be the only cost effective way to sell this type of machine legally. Most of our competitors are selling ILLEGAL machines, which is not only breaking the law, but unfair on those who are trying to operate within the law. |
Features:
- The reactor and heating tanks are made from steel, which has high resistance to pressure and does not go soft at 60 degrees C.
- The pipe work is mostly made of steel and is properly supported.
- The main pump is a spark less, high flow rate pump operated by hand to keep the overall machine cost down. The pump is self priming, tolerant of large particles in the oil and resistant to all the chemicals used.
- The unit is securely mounted on a sturdy platform and cannot be knocked over in normal circumstances.
- There are NO add ons required for this machine, it is all inclusive and ready to go to make high grade biodiesel conforming to EN14214. The machine will accommodate all the stages of the biodiesel process from heating the oil to drying and de-waxing the finished product.
- The processes used are all well established, employing traditional biodiesel technology with no 'research' techniques or otherwise. It is a fully developed biodiesel processor.
- The heating tank is fitted with an internal 3KW 240 volt a/c stainless steel/incalloy heating element with thermostat and over temperature safety cutout switch. There is no heating element in the reactor.
- Visual and audible alarm system on low fluid level over heating element.
- Methoxide mixing is performed in a proper mixing vessel by adding catalyst to the methanol in the traditional way.
- The processor is capable of making one batch of biodiesel every 24 hours although we recommend longer settling times to achieve highest quality.
- Sight tubes to see fluid levels in the tanks.
- Sample points on both tanks to determine state of reaction/state of drying etc.
- Biodiesel de-waxing system.
- Conical tank bottoms to get maximum separation efficiency.
- Electric circulation pump for drying the oil and drying and de-waxing the biodiesel.
- Skid mounted.
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What this machine will do:
- Safely mix the methanol with catalyst
- Heat the vegetable oil
- Separate water from the oil
- Safely react the methanol with vegetable oil
- Separate glycerol from the biodiesel
- Wash and dry the biodiesel
- De-wax the biodiesel
- Pump out high quality biodiesel through a filtration unit
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Costs to build or buy a Twyn Tub 150 (UK):
- Plans £95
- Parts and materials £864. No VAT. Not including control panel (£104).
Our price for complete machine: £2200 + delivery + training. No VAT. Availability: 5 weeks
Deposit of £500 secures order. Pay deposit:
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| Dimensions of machine: 2.2 long x 0.8 wide x 2.0 high (m) |
| Chemicals required: Methanol, sodium hydroxide, sulphuric acid. All readily available throughout the UK. |
| Actual man hours per batch: 4 hours |
Cost analysis:
- Machine cost = £1995.00
- Annual cost for hardware based on 10% interest on a 1 year loan paid off within 12 months = £199.50
- Personal fuel production allowance before tax is payable = 2,500 litres.
- Hardware cost per litre biodiesel = 1995/2,500 = 8.0 pence.
- Methanol cost = 8 pence per litre of biodiesel produced.
- Electricity cost per litre = 1 pence
- Water cost = 0.5 pence per litre of biodiesel produced.
- Waste vegetable oil = FREE if collected personally.
- Total cost per litre of fuel in 1st year = 8 + 8 + 1 + 0.5 = 17.5 pence per litre.
- Fuel cost saving in 1st year = (1.29 - 0.175) x 2,500 = £2787.50
- Total cost per litre of fuel in 2nd year = 8 + 1 + 0.5 = 9.5 pence per litre.
- Fuel cost saving in 2nd year =(1.29 - 0.095) x 2,500 = £2987.50
Figures are based on a current diesel price of £1.29, no loss or gain in economy with biodiesel, using the full 2,500 litres personal production quota. Methanol costs tend to fluctuate quite a bit. |
| Videos to watch: |
| Introduction to the Twyn Tub 100 biodiesel processor - a video tour of the design features. |
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| Making biodiesel with the Twyn Tub 100 biodiesel processor |
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| Computer generated 3D video tour |
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| New The Twyn Tub 150 goes to the Isle of Bute, Scotland |
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Purchase a DVD (PAL format) with these videos on it, £9.95, UK only. Available: Now |
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Discuss the Twyn Tub biodiesel processor on: http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/viewthread.php?tid=2250
This product has been independently reviewed on: http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/viewthread.php?tid=3183 |
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Extras:
- Air operated main pump, add £500
- Stainless steel tanks, add £600 (machine life span = 25 years with stainless steel)
- One day's on site training, add £200 (Goes through the basic process but not washing and drying)
- Two day's on site training, add £300 (Goes through the whole biodiesel process)
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What to watch out for when buying/building a small scale biodiesel processor:
1. What materials is the machine made from? Stainless steel is the ideal material for the vessels but this will make the machine expensive. Steel is OK and is 100% resistant to the caustic catalyst used. Plastic is NOT acceptable as it starts to become unstable at 60 degrees, which is very near the biodiesel reaction temperature, and is gradually destroyed by the catalyst dissolved in methanol. Most plastics, except for PTFE (which contains fluorine), will firstly go opaque, then go brittle and then go a dark brown colour with final disintegration within about 2 years. HDPE and PVC are NOT compatible. The pipe work particularly should NOT have braided flexible plastic on the biodiesel mixer pump. This is something to watch out for as it is a sure indicator that the builders of the machine are incompetent. Accidents have been recorded due to accidental pressure build up in flexible pipe work causing an 'annul ism' and subsequent bursting, spraying hot vegetable, oil possibly containing sodium methoxide, over the operator.
2. What pumps are used? The pump for mixing the biodiesel reactants should be spark proof and this normally requires full ATEX zone 1 certification, not only on the electrics, but also the pump itself. Good quality hand operated pumps are OK. Watch out that the pump will handle particles in the fluid as when making biodiesel it is not normal to filter the veg oil beyond about 2mm. Mag drive pumps are NOT tolerant to particle contamination. Centrifugal is the best option. Most machines have an inadequate mixing pump - many are illegal.
3. Where is the pump mounted and is it self priming? If the pump is not mounted below the level of the bottom of the tank it will need to be a self priming pump. Do not buy machines with pumps mounted half way up the vessel and equipped with priming kits - waste of time!
4. Does the machine have internal heating or is it a separate 'add on'? The heater should be ATEX rated to zone 0 if it is in the biodiesel reactor and the reactor itself should have automatic fluid level sensors to prevent the following: Many biodiesel processors use immersion heaters located in the reactor and many accidents have been caused by inadvertently turning/leaving the heater element on in an empty reactor that contains methanol fumes. The result is explosions.
5. Does the machine do all the stages of biodiesel production? These are: Heating, separating any water, drying the waste oil (if used), methoxide mixing, biodiesel reaction, neutralisation of the crude biodiesel, water washing, biodiesel drying and filtration. If any of these stages are missing the biodiesel produced WILL damage your engine.
6. Methoxide mixing: NEVER buy a machine that pumps methanol through a container with the catalyst as this produces a dangerous exothermic reaction. Methanol is generally mixed with a conventional vortex mixer, not a pump. If, for some reason a pump is used for mixing the methoxide, make sure it is a proper ATEX centrifugal pump rated for grinding particles. NEVER mix methoxide in a open topped vessel as the fumes will harm your health.
7. Buy from a reputable supplier. Things to watch out for here are if they say you can make money out of a small scale biodiesel plant. This is NOT true. Due to various economies in scale, it has been calculated that the minimum size to make a profitable business is 5,000 litres per day. Otherwise, it is always going to be a hobby activity. Do NOT buy from people kindly offering to build you a one off machine. Although their intentions may be good, they are unlikely to have the experience to build a safe machine and will therefore be acting illegally. If you do buy an illegal machine, YOU are not acting illegally unless you ask your mate to come and help you. You are allowed to harm yourself but not your mate. Don't buy an illegal machine.
8. Watch out for false claims made by the seller. One is the profitability as above. Another common sales bluff is to exaggerate the production capability of the machine. The way it is done is to say that biodiesel can be produced in 2 hours, giving 12 batches per 24 hour day. This is completely misleading as quality, clean biodiesel cannot be made in less than 24 hours per batch and even this is optimistic. The production from a machine with a reactor capacity of, say 200 litres, is not normally more than 100 litres per day. Be very suspicious of claims more optimistic than this.
9. Look for useful features such as sample points in the reactor and methanol mixing tanks. You need these to test that the process is going to work before mixing the reactants together. Temperature gauges are always useful for peace of mind.
10. Is the unit skid mounted? This is essential if tanks are connected with rigid pipe work as just connecting them on a concrete floor wont be accurate enough to ensure that the joints meet up and don't get strained. If the tanks are not skid mounted they will need to be connected by flexible pipe or by custom onsite built rigid pipe work which are both expensive options and the latter may mean that the machine cannot be moved.
11. Accidents have happened due to bad biodiesel making process. Don't buy a machine that advocates mixing the methoxide into the hot oil, always do it the other way round. Even if the vessel has a temperature gauge, the oil is generally much hotter at the top than at the bottom. If the oil is over 65 degrees C at the top and you add methanol or methoxide the methanol will boil off, potentially causing a pressure build up and subsequent bursting of the vessel, especially if it is plastic. Then, if you've got non-spark proof motors running and a large methanol spillage you've got the perfect recipe for a major explosion.
12. Biodiesel production IS dangerous. Don't buy equipment from suppliers who claim that it is safe. The chemicals used are deadly poisonous and highly explosive. Companies marketing biodiesel production as a safe family activity are acting in a very irresponsible manner and risk heavy fines and imprisonment if an accident occurs. If the suppliers claim that biodiesel production is safe, then their equipment is likely to be unsafe and probably wont work properly.
13. Be aware of the need for extra add on tanks etc as many machines are not complete biodiesel processors and only do the basic reaction. Ask about pre-processing waste oil, drying the finished biodiesel, de-waxing the biodiesel and final filtration. If the answers are vague - don't buy it!
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