on 3/12/04 4:21 AM, mfle2001 at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > I had 32 litres of oil, in a plastic dustbin. > I dissolved 224g of lye in 1,280 mls of water, > and mixed it in to the oil. > > Unfortunately despite leaving it 24 hours I > don't seem to have any separation of oil and > soapstock - it just seems to be one horrible > gluggy mass.
Try slowly pouring a liter of your mix into 10 liters of very hot water. Mix gently. Clean oil should float to the top, where you can scoop it off. You might be able to repeat the process a few times with the same batch of water before it gets too soapy. The oil you recover from this first stage will probably need a second stage (all over again with fresh hot water) to completely remove all the soap. This extravagant use of water has always plagued the caustic refining process, which is why it is gradually being phased out in favor of other approaches. Centrifuging helps, but is generally beyond the abilities and budget of the garage producer. Why don't you try an acid esterification step first, when you can't avoid using that oil? -K 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/
