Biodiesel Beginners and Advanced classes in Berkeley, CA:
www.girlmark.com/tour

I'm teaching biodiesel homebrewing during two weekends in Febuary. You
can take either one or both weekends' classes. The advanced class
requires prior experience or requires attending a weekend beginner class
and getting some practice beforehand.
Each class is $120 for the weekend (ie $240 for both weekends). Register
at www.girlmark.com/tour

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Feb 17-18: two-day class for beginners, no previous experience
necessary. This is similar to the classes I normally teach every couple
of months here.
10-4 both days, Berkeley (Dwight Way near Sacramento Ave)
To find out about the next one of these beginner classes, please see
www.girlmark.com or sign up for emails from the Northern California
biodiesel events announcements list:
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/norcal-biodiesel-events

The beginners' class includes hands-on biodiesel chemistry, and an
opportunity to build an Appleseed biodiesel processor if you want to buy
a B100supply.com kit of parts for one. The class will include an
introduction to equipment design, quality testing, quality control, the
scientific process, common pitfalls, recovery from emulsions, the
factors that influence 'conversion', drawbacks and advantages of
biodiesel, and discussions of biodiesel versus solvent thinning or SVO
technologies. You will make some common 'engineered failures' (as well
as some quality biodiesel) and learn what the failures mean. Basic
safety practices are stressed. Class is a combination of lecture and
hands-in lab, with a hands-on equipment build at the very end.

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Feb 24-25: Advanced Class- New!
Two-day advanced class covering in great detail many new things that I
(and others) don't normally teach, both hands-on practice and in lecture
and discussion. I will NOT be offering this class very frequently as
there is limited interest in advanced topics. I am only offering this
class in Berkeley in Febuary, in Saginaw, MI in June and in
Chambersburg, PA in May or June (dates to be announced at
http://girlmark.com/tour)

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Advanced class details:

For the advanced class, I'd like you to have some experience (see end
of post for prerequisites). If you are new to biodiesel you can
certainly use the beginner class the prior weekend as a prerequisite.
The advanced class is longer than the regular class- 9-5 instead of
10-4. (Berkeley, near Ashby and San Pablo Ave with possible field trip
nearby)

The advanced class includes:
quality control in much more detail than 'regular' beginners' class
more time spent on hands-on quality testing including some tests not
practiced in beginner classes
analysis of real-world problems with offspec biodiesel
acid-base biodiesel process, for making biodiesel out of high-FFA oil
advanced topics in dewatering
testing for soap and what it is useful for
methanol recovery and equipment design
testing recovered methanol for purity
waterless washing with Amberlite and Magnesol
slightly larger-scale equipment design (for co-ops or small farms, etc)
Treating wash water and glycerine for disposal
testing wash water and glycerine, real-world test results related to
biodegradability
in-depth disposal/sidestreams discussion
burning glycerine safely for energy, emissions and safety discussion
hydronic solar/burner applications for producing heat for the biodiesel
process
More advanced discussion of safety and disaster preparation and
prevention scenarios for larger-scale processor systems, discussion of
regulatory topics for non-commercial producers larger than homebrew.
Solar applications for reducing energy inputs in production
very through discussion/demonstration of several different options in
washing, including drawbacks and advantages of them
other topics possibly to be announced

********************

No prerequisites for Beginners class Feb 17-18- no experience necessary,
come on down

********************
Prerequisites for advanced class:
Advanced Class Feb 24-25: Prior experience required. I'm taking the
unusual step of asking that you guys put a LOT of time into prep for
this class if you are not already a homebrewer, and ask that you not
come if you can not take the time to prepare. I want to make sure it's
a high-quality discussion for advanced students (some of whom are flying
in from out of town), and am restricting attendance by experience, for
this reason.

this class is restricted to:
either:
1)-folks who are already homebrewing (see caveat at end of post)

2)-folks with a LOT of experience with research AND making multiple
1-liter test batches (and it's OK if you've already done the reading and
will get the hands-on experience between now and the class time- I would
like you to make about 5-6 different liter batches, wash them, and test
them before the class-and for you to bring these in, so we can "grade
your homework"- so get started now)

3)-folks who don't homebrew but have taken a previous hands-on class
with one of the following instructors, or a class from somebody else who
teaches from the biodieselcommunity.org 'curriculum' and keeps up with
recent developments in homebrewing in the past year:
myself, Jennifer Radtke, Kalib Kersch, "BioLyle" Rudensey, John Bush,
Piedmont Biofuels folks, Matt Steiman
note: If you have only attended a class but not homebrewed, and it's
been a while, I would like you to brush up by making a test batch or two
and trying to wash it to completion so you can bring it to class Feb 24th.

4) students attending the Biofuel Oasis advanced course the previous
week (those people only, may also attend just Day 1 of the beginners
class, since they can't come to Feb 18ths class)

Note: Please note that if you primarily work from information from
journeytoforever.org or From the Fryer To The Fuel Tank or from a manual
from Fuelmeister or another Fuelmeister-like plastic processor or from
plans you bought on eBay, AND if you do not regularly read the quality
testing/quality control side of the Infopop/Yahoo Biodiesel/Yahoo
Biodieselbasics/Biodieselnow homebrewing forums, you will probably have
some inaccurate information to unlearn. Some of it, like
journeytoforever's quality control and testing information, is almost
entirely wrong. I invite you to attend so you can get the accurate info,
but I'd like you to do some extra reading first to catch you up.
B100supply.com (quality pages and 'best of the forums' section), and
biodieselcommunity.org are good places to start, and
biodiesel.infopop.cc has exceedingly good information these days in the
various forums.

If you need supplies for getting started practicing your skills, but
don't already have equipment, please see www.b100supply.com and
utahbiodieselsupply.com for scales, beakers, etc. You can purchase KOH
catalyst in small quantities by mail at www.braintan.com .

To sign up for the classes, please see www.girlmark.com