Tilly, i think Plugy is right. This last batch of bd i made, i used Extra koh, it titrated at 2.7 and i used 3g/l koh, it made good bio but even with the prewash it was a ***** to wash. Had a layer of creamy,oily stuff on the bottom.

After draining the first wash water i encountered this. I left it in and washed again and bubbled for a day and most of it went away,washed again and bubbled for another day and it went away, OBTW this prewash batch passed Vans test before and after washing.
The batch i am kicking off today i will use .01 gpl over titration and see what happens.
Jammer

When I add a bit to much KOH, its in my 500 gram batches and/or always at the end of my calculation..
If you work it out back to the titration number, a batch that titrates out to 12.6 would probably be getting 12.61 or less.. I dont add a few extra grams per liter, I add a few extra grams for the entire batch.
I believe, and I could be very wrong here but doubt it, that this is one case where "more is better".
It is my understanding that the commercial guys use 9grams as thier base with NaOH..


Tilly,
What do you think? If a titration says your batch should have 1260 grams of KOH, do you think 1300 would do any damage?

quote:

Originally posted by GrahamLaming:
Hi Murphy

It is strange that you had no drop-out, especially with the 'wet' bio in test 4a & 4b.

Let me think on this a bit ...

Graham,
I messed up.. The 2nd set of test WAS on dried bio.. While I grabbed it from the wash tank, I stuck it on the hot plate and heated to 140 deg while stirring. I forgot I had done that.

So, Tests A was from reacted bio, not washed, not dried with 5% pre-wash.
Tests B was from reacted bio, washed, dried on hotplate.

Sorry for the mistake.. When I posted the info, I had forgotten that I did stick it on the hot plate. Thanks to my wife for reminding me. STUPID is as STUPID does eh? LOL

i had to alter my base to 8grams for KOH and 6grams for NaOH and then add the the titration,
i never tryed 220ml on any of my tests i only used 200ml and 250ml
i distill all my batchs to recover any spare methanol so an extra 30ml aint an issue.
it seems to me to much methanol aint a problem but to much KOH is,
ive tryed KOH from 2 differnet bags and ive done the same with NaOH to prove that the result are not based on the chemicals being poor
has for methanol i have a few tubs of and i even did a test with methanol i have distilled off a batch all results are the same, to much KOH is a problem and the Jan tests i did showed that even 1 gram extra in a ltr test fails the Jan test.

I think its each to there own beliefs what is right or wrong when coming to tests.
i can only say what ive found out with the tests ive done and with these results ive got
all my bio is made using titartion then Jan tests after every stage and it now passes all tests
it didnt before.

plugly

Hello Plugly

You did say you found 220ml methanol to be a little light when using KOH.

I agree, if you wish to be absolutely sure you get the highest conversion possible and you recover excess methanol go with 7g NaOH+ (titration X 1.2) mixed into 250ml methanol per litre WVO or the equivelent amount of KOH.

How are you introducing the methanol/koh into the reactor?

has ive never tested at 220ml and only 200ml or 250ml maybe my quote 220ml is a little light shouldnt be listerned to what do i know im a newbie to.
ill do more tests using different amounts of methanol and compare this to the result of the Jan tests ive done and post the results.

plugly

Hi Murphy,

Ah OK, because water really makes the methanol drop bio.

Well, I recon you have good biodiesel there.

How does the washing go if you treat it REALLY gentle? Do you still get emulsion?

If so, then I'm stumped, but the end result seems OK!

Graham,
I'm not sure I understand that test. I eventually got down to using only 20ml of methanol and 3ml of bio and I still got NO drop out..

What's the scoop on this?

It doesnt matter how gentle I am with washing the problem oil.. I get massive white stuff at the bottom of the barrel..

quote:

Originally posted by steved:
hi murphy, for this oil i would switch to naoh and use the gl process to get out the soap. then see if it can be washed with water.

Well, except for the NaOH part, I tried using the GL process and I still got massive white stuff..

But here's the good news.. Sunday evening, after about a 8 to 10 washes, I stuck the problem stuff in the dry tank.. I've never seen a batch dry so fast.. The tank never even had a chance to get past 95 degF and the stuff went from a very brightly colored orange juice look to crystal clear in no time at all... You don't understand, I mean like 10 minutes and it was clear!!! The stuff never even warmed up.. I couldn't believe it.. When I stuck it into the dry tank, it looked like thick orange juice concentrate.. Anyhow, I let it warm up to 120 deg F and run for 3 hours just to be sure..

There's more good news.. I reacted another batch sunday night and washed it this morning. There is no signs of any residue from the problem oil as the batch after it showed..

I still have 200+ gallons of pure evil sitting in an IBC tote.. I started pouring my glycerin from each batch I do into it..