Sounds like my first run and I'm no expert now but .... I had to eliminate the variables one by one......
So I got Virgin oil, Got better at titration, got a better lye (and how to measure it!) - and Bingo there it was perfect Bio.. Make sure you measure your Lye very carefully, I found I added to much the first time and smoked a blender but it was this and several other blunders that have made it easier to get along with now. Good luck! Jim Kurt Nolte wrote: > Okay, so earlier this week I tried my first batch. Didn't go so hot, > it was still a little cloudy after I was done. Emulsed like crap when > I tried to wash it, to the point of a full 50% of the test wash ending > up a crappy mayonnaise consistency. To date, after 36+ hours of > settling, I barely have 100mL of clear upper level separated out of a > 300mL test wash. > > Okay, so I figured I screwed up along the line somewhere. I had some > doubts as to the unused status of the oil, so I looked up the > directions and reprocessed a liter of it in a blender. > > I mixed up a large enough batch of the 10% methanol blend suggested > for reprocessing for my little scale to be accurate (It only measures > in 2g increments. Must find a better scale!) and I did it inside where > the humidity was only around 60% (As opposed to exterior humidity of > around 90%+) and quickly, only taking a bare 45sec to a minute from > the time I opened the cannister to the time NaOH hit the methanol in > the blender bowl. It mixed rather nicely, and I pulsed it's mixing off > and on to keep the blender cool during the fifteen minutes it took me > to be confident everything had fully dissolved. It ended up a very > <i>slightly</i> cloudy mixture, but nothing settled into the bottom > over the next hour. > > During the course of that hour I set up the other stuff, measuring out > a liter of my initial product, putting it in a second blender (Just > bought it, cheap $14 one), getting that all set up; it was still > slightly cloudy when I put it in the blender. During this same time I > also measured out 500mL of just-purchased canola oil, intending to > process a real minibatch after I reprocessed some of my initial product. > > Added a very carefully measured amount of my methoxide, 100mL, to the > reprocessing candidate in the blender. Snapped the lid on, made sure > everything was secure, and let her go. Twenty minutes of blenderized > thrashing commenced, during which time the whole slew became a kind of > milky yellow-amber color, with a brown tint to it. Cut the blender > off, poured everything inside it out into a glass jar with a cap. > > Set that aside and went into the house, washed the blender cup > thoroughly, inside and out. I towelled it off, then let it air-dry for > a good five or ten minutes inside the house. Took it back outside, put > it back together, and added my fresh oil to the cup. Drew out another > 50mL of my 10% grade solution, adding another 50mL of my methanol > source to bring it up to the requisite 20% volume. Since the grams of > lye per liter were never changed, just the volume of methanol, I > reasoned that doing this was safe and would work since I was just > bringing the lye concentration down to normal by diluting the solution > with more methanol. > > Added this to the batch of fresh oil, secured the cap, turned the > blender on and walked inside to wash my hands again and get something > to drink. Ten minutes later I walked back out, and the blender was > utterly empty. Bottom end failure on my cheap blender; apparently I > hadn't let the motor cool long enough, so the heat ran up the shaft > and when combined with the heat of mixing it I melted the plastic. > Bummer. So I don't have that as a comparison. > > Anyway, five hours after reprocessing the first-run product, I drew > out another 100mL and added 100mL of hot (120~F) water. Gently swirled > it at first, but that wasn't even mixing water and product so I went > to a slightly more vigorous shaking. > > And it did the same thing. Emulsed like crap. I have a 200mL jar of > two-tone mayonnaise. The upper layer is tinged yellow-brown, the > bottom layer is pure white. > > Ummm, help? > > -K > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >_______________________________________________ >Biofuel mailing list >Biofuel@sustainablelists.org >http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > >Biofuel at Journey to Forever: >http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > >Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): >http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > > _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
