Methanol for Biodiesel

Historically, methanol was derived by distilling wood. Currently it is made from natural gas. Making it from natural gas is much less expensive than distilling it from wood. Making it from natural gas requires both very high pressures and very high temperatures. These high temperatures and pressures make it impractical to make methanol at home.

Methanol is found naturally in the environment. Bacteria living in anaerobic surrounding produce methanol as a waste stream. Other bacteria also living in anaerobic conditions will use methanol as a food and produce methane. These bacteria are the same bacteria found in septic tanks and anaerobic digesters used by farmers and wastewater treatment plants. Trace amounts of methanol can be found in the atmosphere.

Methanol is a highly flammable poison. See the MSDS sheet for detailed information on the effects it can have on humans. Methanol is the most dangerous chemical we use in making biodiesel and extreme care should be used in handling and storing methanol.

Where to buy

Methanol is available from chemical supply houses and from distributors of racing fuels. It is also available in small quantities as a fuel deicer. In the US, racing methanol is 99% methanol and is probably the best source for our uses. Sometimes they will add dyes and lube to make the flames visible or to improve performance. Some of these additives may have an effect on your ability to make biodiesel. It is best to avoid methanol with dye or lube added, but if you have no other source then try it out.

For small test batches, you can get methanol in small quantities from chemical supply houses on the internet, sometimes from drug stores, and from auto parts houses selling the yellow bottle of HEET deicer.

Storing Methanol

Methanol should be stored away from everything in a cool shady place. The drum should have a secondary containment or drip pan to catch spills. Spill containment can be a large plastic bucket placed under the drum. There are "overpacks" available that perform the task of spill containment. There any number of commercially available containments that will catch a spill, More economical are plastic tubs or trays from the farm store used for watering livestock. If the drum is on it's side, with a drain, then it will need a drip pan to catch any drips out of the spigot.

The drum should be grounded. There are grounding cables with big heavy clips that would work well for this. Don't ground to plumbing or conduit. The proper way to ground is to a copper stake driven into the ground next to the drum. If draining or pumping into a metal container the drum should be bonded (electrically connected) to the container.

The drum should be kept out of the rain. If the drum is upright and water collects on the lid, the water will seep into the methanol and ruin it. The drum should be kept off the ground or it will rust out where it touches earth.