Hello Jeremy >First time titrating and here's what I did: > >Mixed 1 gram lye (used a triple beam) with 1000ml of distilled water >to obtain my .1% solution). I then added 10 ml. of 99% isopropyl to >a small beaker, to this I added 1 ml. of WVO and sat it in a warm >bath until it was clear. I began adding the lye solution drop by >drop, checking the ph with a electronic meter every half ml. that >went in. Unfortunately it looks as if my oil is bad (lots of FFA) >as it took between 8.5 and 9.0 ml. to get the ph up to 8.5. I did >the same step 3 times getting pretty much the same result each time. >I also used phenol red and it seemed to say the same thing. This >means I would need to add 12 g. of lye for every liter of oil. > >Questions: > >Should I even bother using the WVO, is it doomed to fail?
I think you should bother to try a small test batch, with 1 litre or half a litre. That should answer two questions - whether your titration results are good or not, and whether it's worth using the oil or not. If the titration's correct you might have difficulty getting any results with that oil even with a test batch. From what I've gleaned most people only succeed about half the time with oil like that, and even then they get a very low yield. So if it just turns into soup it doesn't necessarily mean the titration's wrong. There's some info about high FFA oil here: High FFA levels http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make2.html#highffa Read on a bit while you're there. Phenol red isn't much use, maybe for low-FFA oils. Get some phenolphthalein if you're not happy with the pH meter results. Also, with high FFA levels like that, measuring every half-ml probably isn't enough, small differences and accurate lye quantities really matter with oil like that, and so does everything else. You'll have to be meticulous with it. See also: Better titration http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make2.html#bettertitrate See what you can do, but I'd suggest finding some better oil anyway - much better! Or oil from several different sources so you can gain some confidence with titration, and with processing it. 3-4 ml is okay, less is even better, higher than that rapidly gets more difficult and demanding. >I got the grease from a mexican restaurant, does anyone know what >establishments seem to give the best oil? Expensive ones! >I could see mexican restaurant oil not being good because they fry >their chips in them which must require a bit of heat, more than say >making french fries (at least they are not crispy). > >It seems that when adding the lye solution the ph rises very slowly >until it reaches some point where it rises very quickly with each >additional drop. That is why I say it took between 8.5 and 9.0 ml., >because 8.5 ml. didn't get it there but 9.0 ml made the ph go to >over 9. Does this all seem right? Probably, yes. I think that sudden rise is more the case with higher FFA levels, IIRC, but it's some time since I've titrated oil like that - there's a shortage of bad oil round here! But then we don't do restaurants. Actually we do, in a small way, with a couple of them that we have other arrangements with, but their oil is good. We get most of our oil from a cooked food factory and two school lunch centres, very nice. Best Keith >Thanks for any response > >Jeremy ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/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/
