Dear Mr. or Ms. Goat, The contents of the middle layer to which you refer are largely dependant upon the degree of reaction completion, the reaction type (acid/base or base) and the processing steps used (principally in an acid/base).
The belief that this layer is primarily soap is largely in error, as soap is soluble in water. However soap does emulsify oily substances. The white layer you refer to is largely an emulsification. The extent of the emulsification is greatly dependent upon how well the initial reaction was conducted. Incomplete reactions when blended in 50/50 ratios with water in 55 gallon lots can result in literally as much as several feet in depth of emulsification. A complete reaction should yield no more than a fraction of an inch of an emulsion layer. The three layers yielded from a catalyst recovery attempt are from bottom to top: A) neutralized catalyst in precipitate form. B) crude glycerin (but not quite so crude as previously) consisting of glycerin, water, discolorants and perhaps excess acid. C) recovered free fatty acids (soaps that have been broken down by the acid to FFAs) with perhaps a fraction of soluble alkyl esters. The small alkyl ester fraction will be largely dependant upon your previous separation technique (how much biodiesel is imported into the FFA recovery process) and to what degree the FFA recovery process is acidified. As the ester fraction should be small to "non-existant," it is almost of no consequence to know that alkyl esters in either an acid or base environement are continually reverting between FFA and ester throughout an equilibrium reaction. Chances are that a FFA recovery step will be acidified in slight excess and all or almost all esters that existed at the beginning of the process will be non-existant by its end, having reverted to FFAs. Todd Swearingen ----- Original Message ----- From: goat industries <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuels-biz@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Monday, September 02, 2002 2:40 PM Subject: [biofuels-biz] some clarification? > It's great to get some input from a knowledgable person such as Michael > Allen - Michael, could you do us a favour and tell us: > a) what is the major component of the 'creamy' middle layer in the post wash > methyl ester/water mixture that is commonly called soap? > b) what are the three layers that are formed when crude, black, glycerine is > neutralised with acid? > Your help would be greatly appreciated! > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> > 4 DVDs Free +s&p Join Now > http://us.click.yahoo.com/pt6YBB/NXiEAA/MVfIAA/9bTolB/TM > --------------------------------------------------------------- ------~-> > > Biofuels at Journey to Forever > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > Biofuel at WebConX > http://www.webconx.dns2go.com/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm > List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: > http://archive.nnytech.net/ > 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/ > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Looking for a more powerful website? Try GeoCities for $8.95 per month. Register your domain name (http://your-name.com). More storage! No ads! http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info http://us.click.yahoo.com/aHOo4D/KJoEAA/MVfIAA/9bTolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://www.webconx.dns2go.com/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ 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/
