[Biodiesel In Utah] ASTM Testing now at affordable prices

[Utah Biodiesel Supply]

 Hey all,
 
 I've been working on getting affordable ASTM Testing for home-brewers
 now for a while & finally got it all ready today.
 
 It's through a group called FuelOnly out of Vancouver, Washington (nice
 place that Vancouver!)
 
 http://www.fuelonly.net/
 
 One of the biggest hurdles as I've gone through looking for good testing
 labs is price. A lot of them want to get into the home brew testing
 market but don't want to cut their prices down much to do it.
 
 This group was different. They really believe that the home brewers &
 end users tend to be doing some of the most cutting edge research in
 Biodiesel production and they wanted to help it out.
 
 So......with that in mind....
 
 For bona-fide ASTM Standardized Testing, here's the different options I
 arranged for all of us:
 
 Total & Free Glycerin Test - $79.99
 This will give you an indication of how well your fuel is reacted. Think
 of it like the golden standard to the 3/27 test. It's what the
 commercial guy's use. It breaks out your biodiesel into Triglycerides,
 Diglycerides, Monoglycerides, and Free Glycerin.
 
 This allows you to see how well you're reactions are going. The standard
 for total & free is 0.24%. But, just measuring for that doesn't tell you
 how well your equipment is doing.
 
 If you can see your tri's, di's, & mono's, then you can also see if
 things are going well. You want a higher ratio of mono's to di's and a
 higher ratio of di's to tri's. Without owning a Gas Chromatograph
 yourself, it's a difficult test to do. These guy's though will ship you
 out a test kit & then pay for the shipping back to them & then report
 your results back to you via email on an official report.
 
 Here's what the kit looks like:
 
 They also offer a whole range of different tests as well that are in the
 ASTM D-6751 testing regimen including the full ASTM test for Biodiesel.
 
 For example:
 ASTM D93 measures flashpoint (ie. did you get all the methanol out?)
 ASTM D6304 - Water Content by Karl Fisher (how dry is your Biodiesel?
 ASTM D664 - Acid Number (is your fuel you stored over the winter
 oxidizing?)
 
 And a bunch of others....
 
 You can see everything I've contracted for here:
 http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/biodieseltesting.php
 
 If you'd like to learn more about the ASTM Tests I highly recommend a
 guide that was put out by the National Renewable Energy Lab.
 
 Here's the link to it:
 http://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels/npbf/feature_guidelines.html

 There's a section in there that discusses the full ASTM Testing Regimen
 & breaks it out test by test & discusses what the purpose behind each
 test it.

Anyway, it's a nice way to see if:
 A) The fuel you're producing is up to the ASTM Standard or
 B) The fuel you're buying is up to the ASTM Standard
 
 And, if the stuff you produce is up to the standard, it's incredible
 bragging rights.
 
 Anyway, just another tool for all of us...
 
 Graydon



Utah Biodiesel Supply
Offering Innovative Ways 
To Produce, Promote, And Use Biodiesel
http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com 
http://www.cafepress.com/utahbdsupply 
graydon at utahbiodieselsupply.com 

The Rabid Biodiesel Nut
Our Blog About All Things Biodiesel
http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/blog
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