Hello!

I got 1000 liters of acidic Fish oil, containing 1,2% of formic acid. I tried to process it as normally allthough the titration was 30... So I added 22liters of potassium methylate diluted in 22 liters of methanol and process - no split.

Titrated again, now at 2. So I added 6 liters of methylate to 10 liters of methanol and process as usually but still no split.

Did a test with 100 ml of this "batch" adding there 10ml of methylate, no split.

Any ideas?

Formic acid is completely soluble in water -- you could agitate your oil with hot water, separate the water, dry the oil, and the HCO2H will be gone.

Thanks for reply, Provo!

I thought that too, and will be using "prewash" with next batch.

Any ideas for the batch I've already tried to process? What could be causing failure in separation/reaction?

By the way - what a waste of expensive methylate to neutralise HCO2H with it. One embarrassed homebrewer here...

Made a little progress:

Looks like I'll be able to water wash the Oil/formic_acid/methylate/methanol junk I've created with help of vinegar (for separation)

Hopefully I get the Oil clean enough to start over again...

Still - Any Ideas anyone what was causing the total failure in the first place?

quote:

Any Ideas anyone what was causing the total failure in the first place?

You were trying to make biodiesel out of oil that titrated at 30

Have you looked into acid-catalyzed esterification as a first step? See the forum on this board dedicated to that subject....