Still making goo. I heated a liter of the oil really hot (~300 F) on the stove to see if any water would boil off. I decided the oil doesn't have any entrained water.
I did a titration and determined the needed amount of lye to neutralize the free fatty acids to be 8 to 9 grams/liter, + 3.5 grams for the esterification, = 11.5 to 12.5 grams/liter! I made test batch #9. A one liter batch. Preheated oil (~140 F). Premixed the lye into 200 ml of methanol until dissolved (5 minutes). Then poured them together in a sealed jar (no methanol evaporation). Shook for 10-12 minutes. Allowed to settle at room temp. Result: about 10% oil, 90% goo. What now?! Help! Should I keep it warm during settling? Should I mix the sodium methoxide longer? Bill --- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, "skillshare" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > You pretty much should do a titration, (journeytoforever.org of > course or go to groups.yahoo.com/group/biodiesel and search > for 'tailgate titration' which I think gives you simple instructions) > > Then if your oil requires more lye than 3 ml or so, I'd suggest > trying a different sample of oil (in fact, I suggest that anyone > making their first mini batches of biodiesel from used oil should > collect samples from several restaurants and try the process > and titration on several different oils...). It sometimes starts to > make goo at about 5 on the titration (ie your 3.5 plus another > 3.5). The goo-making is soap being made, and it's worse if > ther'es free or dissolved water in the oil as well. > the other thing I'm wondering aobut is that you're using a fish > tank heater with a blender, and heating while stirring. I'd worry > about you evaporating away much of your methanol with such a > contraption (unless you have a really good lid that fits around the > fish tank heater). If you evaporate the methanol while stirring the > lye and vegoil around, you'll make soap rather than biodiesel. > You don' t need to stir a blender for so long... 15 minutes is > more than enough... > > take care! > mark > > --- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, "whc281" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > Hello. I'm a newbie, so go easy. > > > > We gathered our materials (WVO, Red Devil, methanol, old > blender, > > fish tank heater, measuring gear, etc.) and have mixed several > test > > batches, but it doesn't look right. > > > > One liter WVO, 200 ml CH3OH, and varied the amount of lye > (3.0 g, 4.0 > > g, 4.5 g, 5.5 g). Mixed lye into CH3OH for 5 minutes, while > WVO > > preheated to ~110F, then added and ran heater/mixer at ~120F > for 1 > > hour. Poured into clear plastic jugs and allowed to settle > overnight. > > > > The batches range from 10% to 5% to none, of clear golden oil > on top > > of light brown jellied glob (90% to 99%)in the bottom. Some > have > > white crusty island on top of the glob. > > > > Where do we go from here? I was thinking next test batch I'd > try way > > more lye... say 8.0 g. > > > > Thanks, > > Bill Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=biofuel Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
