Todd wrote:
> >An acid/base requires no titration.... I think Aleks' method is good up to about 8% FFA in the oil -- at that level, you're right, titration is unnecessary. I tried some 16% FFA oil (titrates at 21 ml NaOH!), and titration after the acid step indicated I still had 5% FFA left, way too much for his base step to work with the stated proportions. > >Okay...so you have to reprocess 30% of your original 100% FFAs. >Are you not already 70% ahead of the game? Yes and no -- the problem is separating the ester from the unconverted FFA. If you start with oil containing 8% FFA and end up with 2% FFA, that's not too much soap to deal with in the base step. But starting with 100% FFA, and trying to wash out 30% of it as soap is another story.... > >In the meantime, however, I have to ask........If what you are >trying to convert to esters are 100% FFAs....do you really see >any need to go into a base stage? SOME kind of base stage is necessary to separate the ester from the unconverted FFAs, even if it's just a neutralizing step (much like caustic refining) to wash out the FFAs as soap. The idea of using clean oil to "dilute" the FFAs and processing the whole thing with a 2-step is just one idea. >My best guess under such circumstances is that you would be >better off switching to an acid/base method and not accumulating >recovered FFAs in such high quantities in the first place. That's the idea of diluting the FFAs with clean oil, but if 8% is the most I can put in a batch, it doesn't help much. Again, for a little background, the only reason I have free FFA lying around at all is that I clean it out of the recovered glycerine phase before neutralizing and composting (or flushing). The FFA (or soap) is, I think, too nasty to dispose of that way. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Stock for $4 and no minimums. FREE Money 2002. http://us.click.yahoo.com/orkH0C/n97DAA/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/
