Green Fuel

1st Look on the Inside of the Greenhouse

2010-04-22T09:44:00.000-07:00

4-21-2010 Greenhouse Overview from Jon P on Vimeo.

Greenhouse fully completed

2010-04-15T01:20:00.000-07:00

Our greenhouse is finally finished and fully functional.

We wound up going with fiberglass panels for the sides for 2 reasons: first off, they were cheaper than anything else (8$ for the 8' pieces and 13$ for the 12' pieces). Secondly, they allow light to come through adequately while at the same time giving us some privacy inside the structure. This was important to us as we are building this greenhouse without consent from the homeowner's association, and our neighbor is too fond of us either.

If you choose to go this route when it comes to siding and roofing, do get the appropriate screws! The right screws for this material are made with a nylon washer at the end to keep the panels from cracking when the wind shakes them.

Another tip is to make sure that you have adequate support for the panels all the way around. You will see that the back side of the greenhouse (against the back fence) is devoid of supports. This left the panels rather flimsy. I stiffened them up using pop rivets, but it would have been better to just put some 1x6 every 3 feet instead. I opted out of it to save money.

As you can see we also built some shelving that closely resembles sports bleachers. The pattern is actually quite simple. We took large sheets of plywood and cut them into smaller sheets and stacked 2 of them on top of each other at a time and then screwed them together. We then drew a pattern on the top (a stair step pattern) and cut it using a reciprocating saw and a hole saw for where we needed to turn the blade. By stacking 2 of them at a time and then cutting them, we were able to make 2 shelf supports in the time it took to cut one! Stack cutting will save you lots of time. We then cut 2x4's to fit each "step"; this was done to support the lumber that would go across and form the shelf that the plants would rest upon. Altogether, we came out with 4 1ft wide shelves that were 12 feet long.

Cutting the fiberglass panels was very easy using the reciprocating saw. Just make sure you hold it still or it will just shake the panels uncontrollably. As for a door, we will be putting some thick, heavy, black plastic.

You will also notice some seedling beds. Hopefully, these will yield about 150 seedlings altogether. We planted cattail seeds in them, and was that difficult! Cattail seeds are extremely small and attached to a tuft that resembles that of a dandelion; breathe too hard and you'll have tons of seeds flying everywhere! The best way I found to plant them in the seedling beds was to use really small tweezers to grab them out of the bag and then place them in the beds. Using the tweezers made it easier, but I still wound up grabbing far more than just 1 seed. Trust me, you'll see what I mean when you get some. We ordered our seeds from Kiona Farms (look them up on google). Not only did they send us the seeds, but also very detailed information on how to sprout them and transplant them.

During the day it is easily 100+ degrees in the greenhouse with about 85% humidity. As the summer drags on it will only get worse.

Feel free to copy these pictures and print them out if you need help building your own. Make sure to read the tips and comments to save yourself some time and money.

We will keep posting as things unfold. Hopefully we will be setting up our biodiesel system this coming week along with the slow sand filter.

Stay tuned!

-Jon, GreenFuel

Rainwater Harvester Completed

2010-02-20T15:26:00.001-08:00

After many weeks of trial and error, we finally have success. The harvester is fully operational at this point. There are however a few leaks here and there that need to be addressed, but we'll get to those at some other time.

In the mean time here are some of the photos:

This is a shot of the entire building. It is roughly 200 sq. ft. This whole building cost over around 900$ to build. The reason it cost so much was the size of the wood beams and the quality of the roofing. I originally planned on building a much smaller and much cheaper building, however, my dad decided to take the reigns of the project and he took it to a whole other level! For the roofing we used TufTex poly carb clear roofing. The gutters are just cheap vinyl gutters purchased from Lowes.

This is an up close view of the downspout, first inline filter, and the first flush diverter. It may appear somewhat complicated, but it really is quite simple. The down spout is a 4x2 reducer which connects to 2" PVC pipe. Immediately after it is a 2" wye with a cleanout adapter on it. I was going to just purchase a strainer, but it was going to cost 200$. So, I created my own strainer by taking aluminum mesh, wrapping it tightly into a roll, and shoving it inside the cleanout adapter. It actually works! I have trapped most of the gunk from the roof in it.

Next is the first flush diverter. I know there are plans for ones that are made out of PVC pipe with a floating ping pong ball, but I wanted to try something different. I chose to use a check valve and a tank for storage of the water since I have no use for it at the moment. However, when I ordered a spring loaded check valve, which can be used in either direction, I was given a swing check valve instead. The problem is that swing check valves can only work in the upright position. So I had to get a PVC 2" U and then connect the check valve. I also installed a long 2" PVC pipe leading up to it so that there was sufficient pressure to push it up and open. The next problem was that I had sealed the bucket without putting in any ventilation for the air to escape so the water could fill the bucket. I didn't realize this was the problem until yesterday. So I had to build a vent pipe that was taller than the inlet, hence the really long pipe that reaches to the roof. It is covered with scrap aluminum mesh. The rope on the pipes is to keep them upright. On the other side is a drain.

These are the two storage tanks plumbed up. Together they'll hold 110 gallons when completely full. The half buried tank is going to be the slow sand filter. The reason for the storage being on blocks above the filter is because I want this to be completely energy neutral in the sense that I don't use any pumps or electric filters. The slow sand filter itself is going to be equipped with a float valve that will draw water from the storage tanks whenever the water in the filter starts getting low.
There were no lids on the barrels when I got them, so we had to cut off the tops. They don't fit that well back on, so we had to screw aluminum mesh over the tops and then try and latch the lids back on using brackets that were lying around our garage.

Here is a closer shot of the soon to be functional SSF. It has its own inline filter, just in case anything got into the storage tanks, I want to make sure it doesn't get to the SSF. Although the SSF is a great and robust filtration method, it can't handle much turbidity. I was planning on putting another SSF next to the one we already have, but I don't think that is going to happen now.

So let me wrap up this post with some thoughts regarding the construction of this whole thing. Please pay close attention to what we did wrong so that you'll avoid the same mistakes and save yourself some $$$.

*Make sure you plan this out very carefully. I cannot stress this enough. I had an original idea just to collect a little bit of water using PVC pipe and tarp, but once I talked to my dad about it, he converted it into a 24'x8'x6' monster that is cemented 4' into the ground. He also spent about 2 days just sitting in his office devising plans for it. I am glad he did, because now I am going to turn it into a green house where I'll put not only the filters, but also some aquaponic grow beds, as well as my biodiesel setup I recently purchased.

*When it comes to plumbing up the system, always test it before cementing all the pipes together. Had I just sealed it all up the first time, I would have wound up buying a ton of PVC pipe.

*Make the roof where the harvesting is taking place as pitched as possible. At first, we tried to have a 1/2" pitch, and the water just sat there. We now have a 1 1/2" inch pitch, the absolute minimum recommended by the roofing company.

*The building needs to be as tall as you possibly can make it. If the structure was at least 4 feet taller, it would look a lot better. The reason we made it only 6' tall was because it would have stuck out over the fence, and the homeowner's association here is a big pain!

If you have any further questions, let me know!

-Jon

Links Round-Up

2010-02-15T21:17:00.001-08:00

Here is a list of some links I have found very helpful in my research. Please share these with as many people as possible!

Water Reclamation/Rainwater Harvesting/Slow Sand Filtration

Methane Digesters

Ethanol

That's all for now!

Building 1st C803 Still

2010-02-15T13:34:00.000-08:00

***This post is actually from another blog I wrote in, however I felt like I needed to consolidate the postings.***

Greetings from Houston!

My dad and I have been studying up on alternative energies for a little while and finally decided to give ethanol production a shot. It started out as just some random idea that he had, and now months later, we have transformed our garage into a shop!

The following is a write up about our experiences as first-timers with some pictures and some tips for those who are still looking into this whole ethanol production process. Please keep in mind that this was our FIRST time EVER working with plumbing, hence my joints and so forth look a little crappy, but they're water tight :]

ENJOY!

*****

First off, some pictures of our workshop and the tools we found INDISPENSABLE!

We built ourselves a work bench using just a plastic table that we bolted a piece of 3/4" plywood too. Behind it we put up the blueprints, which we copied and laminated at Kinko's for under 25$. The saw we used was a Rigid 12" miter saw with a 94 tooth blade that was made for cutting non ferrous metals. It made such short work of the larger pipes, however, it didn't do too well with the smaller ones; the 1/2" pipe got mangled by it. Oh, and please make sure to wear proper safety gear at all times...

The drill press is a Ryobi we picked up at Home Depot for about 200$. It was absolutely necessary, and I highly recommend getting one before starting the project. One quick word of advice: if you can, get a Home Depot/Lowes/whatever card and get the RIGHT TOOLS before you start; if not, the project is going to be very difficult!

We also have an RBI Hawk scroll saw (my dad has always been big into wood working). We used this to cut smaller things, including the notches in the pipes when they were needed. Oh yeah, and that's my dad working while I take pictures

This was a setup I had off to the side where I could access the internet or read the .pdf for some quick advice. Also, as you can see we have a propane torch. It works good, but after I tried the MAPP, I quit using the propane because MAPP got it done WAY faster.

Just a wide shot of our work space. We had the garage shut most of the time due to the fact that we did our work late at night because of work. My dad owns a car dealership and I work with him. One piece of advice here, always make sure to have your area well ventilated, especially while soldering and so forth. A few too many times I got a bit nauseous from the combination of Houston humidity and fumes.

******
Now we didn't take the time to photograph as the project came together so here are some final product pictures:

My dad, using his expertise with woodworking, went all out when he made the cart. It is very sturdy, to say the least, and also quite heavy. The water for the cooling coils is fed from a bucket secured in place on top of the cart. We sealed up a 1/4"MIPx1/8"barb at the bottom of the bucket which connects via 1/8" tubing to our AMOT 4075 valve. We also drilled holes in the side of the cart for the tubing to come in and out. We also put hooks on the sides so we could roll up the tubing and hang it neatly.

From the vent of the valve we installed a compression tee. What this does is allows cold water to enter the condenser as well as the reflux towers at the top. We did this because we figured it would help cool it faster after I heard someone make mention of such a design on another forum. We'll see how well it works.

And while we are on the topic of cooling coils, I will say that they were an ABSOLUTE pain to get through such small holes which were both on the same sides of the column. So after much frustration, we decided to make the holes that the 1/4" tubing came out of larger. We made them 3/8". So we were stuck with some gaps to fill, but we came up with an idea.

We took a 5/8" bi-metal circular drill bit with a 1/4" pilot bit in the middle and punched holes in some of the 3" scraps we had around. What this wound creating were little washer looking things with a 1/4" hole in the middle. So, we put these over the tubing and soldered/sealed them up! It worked GREAT!

Another improvisation we did with the coil was to make the in and out on separate sides instead of on the same side. This made it infinitely easier to manipulate them!

Tonight we actually fired up the still for the first time. Here we took a turkey cooker and boiled water to run through the still and clean it/adjust the AMOT valve. We fabricated the lid to have a hose outlet complete with a brass ball valve as well as a thermometer sticking through it. We held these in place using JB Waterweld (I also used some JB Quik Weld to patch up any leaks we found in anything). We also used aquarium safe sealant to seal the hose connections.

We held the lid down using some very strong clamps we purchased from Northern Tool Supply for about 1$ a piece. They did a decent job, but some steam got through, so we need to either do the bread/aluminum route or get a rubber gasket.

Finally, we started the fermentation process. Here is a quick shot of me lowering the pH with muratic acid (I know, not the best choice, but all we had at the time). I got some arm length gloves, a cheap mask for the vapors, and some basic safety goggles.

Our water started out at 7.0 and it took 6 dropper-fulls of acid to get 36 oz to exactly 4.0 pH.

Now we are just waiting for our first batch to be ready so we can distill! We are really excited to see how it turns out.

Here are some final thoughts and suggestions for those who are considering this:

1. Make sure you do PLENTY of research. Read and read and read and read.... this means articles, forums, books, and most importantly, the DIRECTIONS. I can't stress that enough. We would have been really screwed if we hadn't basically memorized the instructions before hand.

2. I know we are in a recession, but don't be cheap with this. Don't look for shortcuts with this. Get the right tools: good quality and durable. This usually means more $, but if you get a card there is a payment option. Plus, you aren't just building some random copper tower that will just collect dust in your garage; you are fabricating a piece of equipment that has unlimited potential to give you energy independence!!!!

3. Plumbing supply places are your best friends. They will help you find difficult parts, sometimes even free ones They helped us find our 5' copper pipe and we got it FOR FREE! They also have a lot of advice and experience with these products. And what we found, is that they are even a potential customer base. I have one of the main guys at our local supply store already ordering alcohol! Other good places to check for parts include http://www.mcmaster.com. This is such a great site with more stuff than you'll ever need.

4. Make sure to get EVERYTHING you need before you start working. Yes, you'll probably make mistakes or forget a few things, but the worst thing is to stop in the middle of a project to go get stuff.

5. Look for innovative ways to accomplish some things (i.e. our suggestions for the cooling coils made it much less stressful).

6. Give yourself plenty of time to accomplish this project. It will take awhile, especially if you have never done anything like this before. So make sure you are not in a hurry because the last thing you want to do is have to restart all over again due to carelessness.

That is just about all I can think of for now. My dad and I are planning on building another one sometime soon that will be at least 6", not sure if Cu or SS yet. But when we do we are going to record every part of the process and put it on youtube to help people out. That along with many other sites have been invaluable.

I want to say a big thanks to these boards and all those who contributed to our knowledge is some form! It was greatly appreciated!

Now go out and do it!

Slow Sand Filter Update

2010-02-15T13:32:00.000-08:00

Well, the first attempt at the SSF failed miserably. Here are the reasons why:

It wasn't planned out all that well.
The sand that we used was incorrect. It had a lot of debris in it. Also, it wasn't the right ES and it also varied in size too much. The UC was way too high.

We are working on building a a new one soon!

Slow Sand Filter Part 1

2009-12-03T17:38:00.000-08:00

Today we began the process of putting together the first slow sand filter for testing.

We took plastic 55 gallon drums w/o lids bought off of craigslist and modified them for our purposes. Modification began by using a Milwaukee reciprocating saw and cutting the top off. We then drilled holes in the wall of the drum, one at the top and one at the bottom large enough to fit 1/2" pvc pipe through. We cleaned it thoroughly before placing anything in it.

We then bought 10' of 1/2" pvc and cut into pieces to construct the inlet and outlet assemblies. The inlet assembly is attached to a brass float valve with a bulkhead fitting bought from the Ace Hardware Outlet store online for about 14$. We basically made the assembly look like a large plus sign ( + ) full of holes all over it. We did not glue anything together so that we might easily disassemble it for cleaning. The outlet we constructed looked like a pitchfork attached to a 1/2" plastic bulkhead bought from an aquarium supply store for about 2$. The pitchfork looking out let has holes on the sides, but not on the top and bottom so that rocks, dirt, sand, or whatever will not fall directly into them. A rule of thumb for making the holes is to make them smaller than your smallest size gravel.

Next, using a wheelbarrow, a hose, and a rake, I methodically cleaned the pea gravel bought from a local home depot for about 4$ a bag. I would fill the wheelbarrow with gravel, then cover it with about 2" of water and stirred it with the rake. This caused the dirt and silt to come out and float. I then drained all the water off. WARNING: this will use TONS of water. I am currently trying to find a place that sells cleaner materials, but until then, this is what must be done! Before placing the clean gravel in the container, I filled the container half way with water. The reason for this is so that oxygen doesn't get trapped in there and thereby create sanitation problems by growing bacteria where they shouldn't be (this is according to http://www.slowsandfilter.org/). I then placed the gravel inside the container. Four 50lb bags of gravel covered 9" in the container, which effectively gave me 6" of gravel cover over the outlet assembly, and 3" under for support.

Next, I placed 8" of medium grade sand. This sand is graded quartz silica known simply as "#4 sand" at Specialty Sand of Houston. This was the only place we could find graded quartz silica in Houston, and trust me, we looked for 2 days! What is good about this sand, however, is that it is promised to have been cleaned and screened thoroughly (based on safety info and the MSDS from the website about the sand). In order to cover 8" I had to use roughly two 100lb bags. Each bag cost about 12$.

After filling the container with the sand, it began to get dark so I decided to shut things down for the day. Before going in I took off the stopper from the outlet and observed the water that flowed out. What I found was rather shocking: it was crystal clear. The reason for it being shocking is that although I cleaned the gravel as much as possible, the water was still somewhat murky and I had a fear that the sand might seep through, but much to my surprise it hadn't!

What we hope to get done tomorrow is to:

*Go by Specialty Sand and enough sand to construct other containers with slightly different designs.
*Purchase sufficient gravel for said containers.
*Finish building the first filter and start the process.

This coming weekend we will be purchasing some more equipment that will help us in terms of fermentation and distillation. Of the various items we will be purchasing, we will be looking into a biodiesel operation as well as some earth moving equipment.

-Jon

Welcome to Green Fuel!

2009-12-03T17:35:00.001-08:00

Hello! Welcome to the rudimentary research based blog of Green Fuel, a growing business located in Houston that is seeking to provide sustainable and responsible alternatives to fossil fuels. At the time of this posting we are still in the beginning stages of research and development. This blog specifically is geared towards the research end of our endeavor. We will posting here frequently about various tests and their outcomes. Feel free to look around and use whatever you find!

Sincerely,

The staff of Green Fuel