Anybody have any suggestions?

I have 5 gall WVO titrating around 10. I added 1.5 ml sulfuric acid to 100 ml methanol (both per L oil) and added it to the oil. Mixed for 3 hours and still titrating at 10. Added another 12 ml sulf. to about 200 ml methanol total and poured it in. Have mixed it now for another 3 hours and it's still titrating at 10.

What should I do now?

I delat with some of the same issues. I think its contaminants in the oil. If its vinegar, it will cause a false high titration(acetic acid)if its a frier cleaner, it will cause a false low. First thing to do: do a ph test on your water. take a sample of oil, add equal amount of water. Shake the crap out of it. let it settle for a few hours. ph test the oil and see if it raises or lowers. If it does either one, you have contaminants. get back to us and tell us what the ph does, and we can advise you further. It will include washing your oil to some degree to get rid of the contaminants. I do this now by pumping the oil out of my collection tote into totes containing about 10-20% by volume of clean water. the splashing washes the oil,and I let it settle nomrmally

OK. Thanks.
Here are my results using ph paper:
water 7
oil before ~5
oil after ~6
Keep in mind that I testing the oil here that I've already mixed with the meth+sulf acid.

take a sample of the fresh oil, no acid.
add water, shake, and let settle. See what the ph of the water is after. the idea is that any contaminants get washed into the water, and the ph change will give you an idea what the contaminants could be.

southside steve

-Steve did you use heat, heat is very important to acid eserfication you have enough chemicals to get the job done, all I can see here is time, 12 - 14 hr @ 45C. Tom

Southside steve,

are you titration with KOH or NaOH
processing with heat or without? like Biotom asked. this seem to be much more critical.
have you use this oil in the past without problems?
Have you tried adding more methanol only? no more acid? what happened?
was the oil dry to start with? did you check?

-dkenny

I'm going to keep mixing it with heat. Unfortunately, I have to let it sit while I'm at work and can only mix for a few hours each day. So far I've done it for about 15 hours total, and I think it's down to 9 titration. I'll let you know what happens.
If anyone forsees any problems with me doing it this way, lemme know.

I really appreciate the input here.

Southside Steve

-I have to wonder, is the mixing causing this situation I don't mix, other than for the first 20 min then let sit. other than that, our process seems to be the same (I use a bit less acid). The one test sample that I left cold after acid treatment, had a T of 4.5 or so after 14 hrs, and didn't change 9 days, when heated on the 10th day for about 12 hrs, not mixed at that time the T droped to 1.25. wvo T ed at 8 prior to acid treatment Tom

Wow, Biotom. I never would have thought of that. I just now stopped mixing, and will keep it heated and let you know if anything changes after awhile.
Thanks...

Southside Steve

Have you checked out the other thread here started by dkenny (Call For BD producers using acid) lots of good info about acid treatment. Tom

I'm still working at it, but I have another question for the board -
say someone accidentally heats their oil+acid+methanol up too much, say to 200F, would they need to re-add some more methanol (since it can be assumed it got boiled away? Should they add more acid, too, assuming the T has not dropped yet?

Southside Steve

-if your processor is open to atmosphere, I would think all or most of the methanol would be gone. if not it will be ok, just mix it up a bit and do T
-if you lost the methanol, just add more and mix. if you short change on the amout, esterfication won't work well.
-Fix the thermostat Tom