In our daily conversations with customers we always get the same questions.
- What
sets your Precision Units apart from all the other units?
- Am I
asking all the right questions – What am I missing?
We wanted to put a helpful guide together to help our customers
know why the Precision Units are the best on the market and at the same time
help them with the questions they should be asking a Biodiesel Equipment
Manufacturer.
The Precision Advantage - Click Here
Stainless Steel Piping 
– We use only high grade 304 Stainless Steel piping on every
unit we produce. This ensures that there
will never be an issue with rust, corrosion or depreciation. We use stainless steel because carbon steel
will be corroded over time by the catalyst you use in making biodiesel. It is also prone to rusting shortening its
life span.
Ask Others – Are you using stainless steel on all of your
piping?
Flanged Piping
– This is a method that is highly common and
looked for in the industrial world. You
weld flange heads to the ends of the pipe and bolt them together. All flange
gaskets are Teflon to prevent leaking over long periods. This MUST be done in the biodiesel
application. Biodiesel will eventually
leak through threaded ends especially if they are carbon steel. We do not use NPT (threaded piping) - This is
much cheaper than flanges but not worth the hassle. A unit with thread will typically leak.
Ask Others – Are they using
flanges for all connections?
Stainless Steel Ball Valves
– All Precision
units have three (3) piece, 316 stainless steel ball valves with Teflon seals. Again this 
ensures there is no corrosion and
an extremely long life.
– Others may use a two
(2) piece threaded brass ball valves, again a cheaper material and valves. Brass valves will deteriorate over time and
has the ability to Oxidize the biodiesel. Oxidization of biodiesel means it will make the biodiesel shelf life
much shorter and effect the Acid Number on the ASTM
test.
Ask Others – Are they using all
three (3) piece 316 stainless steel ball valves with Teflon seals?
Stainless Steel Centrifugal pumps
– These pumps will last the test of time. They are high quality 1 HP pumps. The pumps are stainless steel to resist corrosion and rust. The motors on the pumps are a NEMA CLASS 1
DIV 2 motor. If you have fire marshals
you better hope you have a pump like this.
– Others may use cheap pumps
made in brass. Again we run into
the problems with brass Oxidizing and raising the Acid number in
Biodiesel. Pumps are the Hearts of your
machine, pumping material where it needs to go. Do you really want to rely on cheap,
brass pump?
Ours VS Theirs
Ask Others – Do they use Stainless Steel pumps and what is
the HP? Is it NEMA CLASS 1 DIV 2?
Stainless Steel Methoxide Mixer
– This is where you mix your methanol and catalyst. Methanol is highly flammable and should
always be 
stored or mixed in a metal container. In addition, stainless steel eliminates you
having to worry about corrosion. We use
an Air Diaphragm pump to mix the two materials together. This is 100% EXPLOSION PROOF because it only
uses air. We stay away from any plastic
tanks they are extremely dangerous. Any
mixer or agitator just stuck into a Methoxide tank is highly dangerous as well.
Ask Others – Is your Methoxide mixer Stainless Steel? Is it completely closed with no fumes? How do you mix? Does it use a 100% explosion proof pump AND
mixer?
Load Cells
– All our units
Methoxide mixers come on load cells (a fancy word for industrial scale). The customer is able to measure the precise amount
of catalyst into the Methoxide mixer and close the top. Eliminating the danger of measuring on
another scale and putting caustic into mixer. You are able to load both caustic and methanol, by weight (the correct
method). This ensures every time that an
accurate amount is being used and the safest methods for Methoxide mixing are
being practiced.
– Others may use a unit that needs to be filled to a line and
basically guess how much methanol is in the unit. This is an issue because if the customer is
adding 1 gallon extra than they need per batch that can end up to a lot of
money over 2, 5 10+ Years. Then you have
to weigh the catalyst some where else, bring it over to the unit, try to dump
it in a little hole and probably spilling some, while all this time your methanol
and catalyst are soaking moisture from the air. This is highly inefficient and dangerous.
Ask Others
– Do you have load cells? How do you weigh the methanol and catalyst? How do you load the methanol and catalyst?
Control Panel
– The Precision control panel includes a 7” Color Touch
screen. This will guide you step by step through the entire process!
Ask Others - Does your unit include a Touch screen? Do I have to pay extra for one?
Stainless Steel Reactor – The Precision units are equipped with
one or two Stainless Steel Reactors. Each Unit is equipped with a vigorous vortex
inline mixer (mixing similar to a high shear mixer). To get a complete reaction the key is to let
the Methoxide and oil mix together, the better, quicker and more
efficient the mixing the same will be true for your biodiesel. Just circulating is not enough. Material
heating is provided by powerful 18 or 36 kW heater. Heaters are inline and not in the side or
bottom of tank. We use inline heaters because
they are more efficient and less dangerous. It is dangerous to put a heater in the side or bottom of a tank due to
the possibility of oil or methanol being poured directly on the hot heater. Our heaters are low watt density heaters, specifically
designed for the biodiesel process. This
ensures that the material is evenly heated and will not burn. In addition, the heating elements are NEMA
CLASS 1 DIV 2 electrical specifications for safety.
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Ask Others – Is your heater inline? What happens if you heater is at the bottom
of the tank and your sensor fails leaving heater on while you fill? Is your reactor Stainless Steel? How does it mix? What is the size of the heater? Is the Heater Low Watt density – or for water
applications (ask to see the sheet)? How
long does it take to heat? Is the heater
NEMA CLASS 1 DIV 2?
Centrifuge – The Precision
systems has the option to add a centrifuge to eliminate the long settling time. The centrifuge mechanically separates
biodiesel and glycerin. The centrifuge can
be added to your Precision unit now or at a later date.
Ask Others – Do you have a centrifuge option? Can you add one on at a later date and all
the connections are there? Do you have
centrifuge references?
Dry Wash – The Precision
systems come with dry wash towers. We
have the option of using an 
Ion Exchange resin like Purolite, Amberlite,
Thermax or others like Eco2Pure. Again
they are stainless steel and are designed with an easy access top, bottom and
side port. They are also already piped to
the methanol supply. This allows you to
easily wash them with methanol when they have exhausted. A drain valve has been added for easy
draining of biodiesel or methanol.
Ask Others – Are your
columns stainless steel? Do they have an
easy access top, bottom and side port? Is it piped directly to the methanol input for washing? Does it have a specific drain directly out
for the methanol and biodiesel? Can the unit use ALL ion exchange
resin and does it have the option of Eco2Pure?
Methanol Recovery – One of
the best features on the Precision units is an engineered methanol
recovery. This unit has an oversized
stainless steel tank. The biodiesel is recirculated
through a powerful 18 or 36kW low watt NEMA CLASS 1 DIV 2 electric heater
capable of raising temperature to level for efficient vaporization of methanol. Pumping the biodiesel through a special
nozzle, into the tank, and allowing the material to atomize thus releasing
methanol into a vapor. This vapor is
then pulled via vacuum pump thru an air cooled condensing unit. The condensing unit turns it back into liquid
methanol and is collected in a separate stainless steel tank. The methanol can then drained and
reused in the reaction or used for other purposes (Acid Esterification). After the methanol has been removed the
material can then be pumped from the unit into storage.
Ask Others – Do you have a unit specifically designed by an
engineer to remove methanol? Do you have
a vacuum pump? Do you have a specific tank for methanol collection? What does your condensing unit look
like? How is the condensing unit
cooled? Is it all built to NEMA CLASS 1
DIV 2? What size is the heater and what
temperature? Do you recirculate the
material?
Spill Proof Skid – The Precision Skids are built with a
spill lip. The skid is solid on the
bottom and has angle iron around the sides with a drain hook up on the
end. If there is ever a spill the
material will end up contained on the unit and drain to where you see fit. This is a big concern for permitting issues
(spill containment).
Ask Others – What do you have for spill containment?
Automation - The Precision systems are also available with an option for
complete automation. This automation
will perform all the tasks necessary on the unit to make high quality 
biodiesel
without human interaction.
Ask Others – Can
you fully automate your unit?
Acid Esterification – The Precision Units also
have the option to add Acid Esterification. In this process we are able to handle very high FFA (Free
Fatty Acid) levels. The Units include a
stainless steel tank, powerful low watt density heater, stainless steel
circulation pump, air diaphragm pump (methanol) and a metering pump (acid). This a pre process to the main Precision
Unit. If you do not treat biodiesel with
a 2% or greater FFA, you
will make soap and a low quality biodiesel. This will also result in a greater
loss in overall yield.
Ask Others – Do
you have an Acid Esterification System? How do you deal with High FFA’s? What is the yield?
Water and Solids Removal – The
Precision Units also have the option to add a Water and Solids removal
unit. This unit includes a Self Cleaning
Centrifuge, heater, control panel and all piping. This is a turnkey unit to remove water and
solids from incoming feedstocks like yellow grease, animal fats and the like. This system runs on a continuous flow of 5
gallons per minute. This ensures that we
can keep up with the production of any Precision Unit.
Ask Others- How do you remove water and solids? How long does it take you unit? Are there limitations to the unit?
Process Knowledge – The Precision systems come with a day
of start up included. Our technicians
will come to your location and teach you how to operate the unit. We also have a vast knowledge about the
complexity of the biodiesel chemistry and proper processes. We built the Precision Units around the
chemistry and process, not around what
was cheapest.
Ask Others – Do you have any Chemist on your staff? Do you provide start up? Who do I call when I have trouble?
The overall design of the Precision Units is to provide our
customers with the highest quality and safest product on the market. There are units that are cheaper now, but
will cost you much more in the long run. Please contact us if you have any questions!