Hello Keith Thanks for your help and input. > I'm not sure what you mean by breaking down fatty acids. Ideally > they're triglycerides (three chains joined by a glycerine molecule), > your biodiesel process will convert them to mono-alkyl esters (single > chains with a methanol molecule). When triglycerides break down due > to heat or oxidation one or more chains split off to become Free > Fatty Acid molecules, leaving di- and mono-glycerides. More FFAs > means more soap and lower yields, and more difficult processing.
Sorry, I mispoke, I mean breaking-down crystalized "lumpy" oil that will be a problem coming this Fall season. As long as in a design mode to create an efficiant processor, I'm trying to provide a way to include potential WVO senerios and incorparate solutions into the final design. This include receiveing WVO with water, as the "kid" from the restuarant didn't bother to put the lid on the WVO reclaim drum and > > This is one of several reasons given for NOT boiling the oil to > remove the water content - there's a danger of the high temps > creating more FFAs. Other reasons are that it might not work very > well (some of the water in fat molecules isn't removed that way), and > that it's a waste of energy. > > Instead, try heating the oil to 130-140 deg F, keep it here for 15 > minutes, then let it settle overnight, draw the oil off from the top. > If you find that's not satisfactory then try boiling the water off. > > Before doing either of those, check if it's even necessary - WVO > doesn't always contain water, or perhaps only minute quantities that > might not matter. Put some in a saucepan and heat it on a stove while > stirring and checking the temp. If it starts to snap-crackle-and-pop > at around 130 deg F it will need dewatering, if not it probably > won't. If it still doesn't crackle at 160F or so, it should be fine > without a dewatering step. > > One way for the boiling-off method not to be a waste of energy is to > use the heat for processing - let it cool off and start the process > when it's fallen to the right process temperature, 130F or whatever. > Looked at that way, the heat-and-settle method might use as much > energy as you'll have to re-heat it for processing the next day. > > Anyway, as far as breaking down crystallised fatty acids is > concerned, unless your WVO is for oil with a high melting point or > contains a lot of tallow, it shouldn't be an issue. Just go ahead and > process it, it will all have melted long before it reaches processing > temperature. If you have to deal with very cold winters (sounds like > you might have to) then you can do different things for summer and > winter biodiesel. This is from our Biodiesel in winter page: > > http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_winter.html > > Winterized biodiesel > > Some people find their WVO biodiesel starts to gel at around 4-5 deg > C (40 deg F). This is because any saturated fats/oils in the WVO will > crystallise (solidify) at higher temperatures than unsaturated fats > and oils and separate out, clogging the filter. That includes tallow, > lard, palm oil, etc. > > To make WVO biodiesel for winter, heat the oil first, then cool it to > near 0 deg C (32 deg F); the saturated fats will crystallise out and > sink to the bottom. Use the clear oil off the top to make winter > biodiesel, keep the stuff at the bottom for summer. But even this > "winterized" biodiesel still won't go much below -5 deg C (23 deg F) > without gelling. > > >I'm hoping to construct this proposed 15 gal metal drum with electric heaters, > > Why do you want to use electricity? You could make a "Turk" type > burner and burn the glycerine cocktail by-product instead, much > cheaper and doesn't waste energy, and no need to fear an open flame > (any more than usual) as there's no methanol involved at this stage. > > Best > > Keith > > > >but could really use some help with what heaters I need and possibly > >vendor info that could heat batches? I would like this to be > >electric and not heated by a flame source. > > > >Any help. > >Send pictures to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > >Thank you, > >Kevin Shea > > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuels list archives: > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ > > Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > ------------------------ 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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/
