Homemade Biodiesel Production Safety
For those who are handy at do-it-yourself projects, making your own biodiesel has become increasingly popular with many who want to Go Green and save a little gas money at the same time with biofuels. If you have decided to make your own vegetable oil biodiesel, you will need to make sure to take appropriate safety precautions during the biodiesel production process in order to keep yourself and your family safe during the process.
Protect Your Body from Hazardous Chemical Exposure
One of the biggest steps that you can take before you start making your own biodiesel is to buy the appropriate personal protective equipment. This include the appropriate chemical resistant gloves, a work apron, and eye protection. When you are making biodiesel, you are using a number of chemicals that can be very hazardous. If you splash or spill methanol on your skin, it will rapidly be absorbed and can potentially cause death in some cases. If you get it in your eyes, it can also result in temporary or even permanent blindness in some cases. Sodium hydroxide can also burn your skin or cause death. The two chemicals mixed together form sodium methoxide which can kill if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through your skin.
When you are purchasing your work gloves to use during the biodiesel production process, you will need to make sure they are chemical and fire proof. Latex gloves will prevent you against initial spillage, but will breakdown when exposed to the chemicals used in the production of biodiesel and can fail. You should also try to wear long sleeved clothing when making the fuel in order to provide as much coverage of your skin as possible. You should never wear shorts or flip flops when you are near the biodiesel production and should have running water nearby in case you need to rinse chemicals out of your eye area.
Preparing Your Biodiesel Production Environment
Before you start to make biodiesel at your home, you need to make sure that you have appropriate ventilation in the work space to remove any fumes created in the process. Vapor cartridge respirators are not considered effective for use with methanol fumes. You should also make sure the production area is closed from access by your children and pets and no one with asthma should come near the production area. Methanol will produce fumes when its hot, and its recommended to make biodiesel on cooler days or in an environment that is not too hot.
Prepare for Emergencies Before They Occur
Another planning step to undergo before you start producing vegetable oil based biodiesel, is to make an emergency plan for your home. This should include a plan for getting medical help in the event of significant exposure of yourself or a family member to the hazardous chemicals, skin exposure, etc. Even if its just having the poison control and ambulance phone numbers handy, any planning you do ahead of time will help you mitigate any potential emergency situations that arise.
With the proper attention paid to safety and planning before you start producing biodiesel, you can make the process as safe as possible on your road to living a greener life.