Please excuse my chemical terms in english. I was wondering if you could clear a couple of things I had mixed up:
Greases/oils (are they called fatty acid esters in english?) (CH2OCOR-CHOCOR«-CH2OCOR") and methanol (CH3OH) form Glicerol and BD (3 RCOOR)... right? Now this reaction needs either an acid or base catalyst (E.g., dry H2SO4 or HCl... OR NaOH) (here is where I get mixed up).. but NaOH would react with the greases/oils to form glicerol & soap (3RCOONa)... So I assume the Sodium methoxide is a more efficient catalyst because it doesen«t form as much soap? On the other hand, I traditionally thought sodium methoxide CH3O(-)Na(+) was synthesised mainly from dry alcohols and metallic sodium (difficult to find + expensive + dangerous). But from what I gather from all the info in journeytoforever, just mixing methanol and NaOH (lye) produces an exothermic reaction which forms sodium methoxide. ÀIs this the catalyst or a reactant? If it is a catalyst, is it the dissociated (is that how you say it?) sodium from the CH3ONa that reacts with the fatty esters (greases/oils) to form the bothersome soap which is so important to get rid of in the washing stages? I know all this sounds a bit too chemical, but if anyone feels comfortable enough to speak in these terms, please enlighten me a bit. Tank you. (+ Happy new year) Regards, Christian [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Send FREE Holiday eCards from Yahoo! Greetings. http://us.click.yahoo.com/IgTaHA/ZQdDAA/ySSFAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
