I make biodiesel using ethanol. There is no problem after heating and washing, but after drying, gelation occurs. Why?

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You've got soap. Meaning water in your reaction.

How much water does your ethanol have in it?

water: ≤ 0.1 %

Super dry ethanol (99.9%) ? I didn't know anyone sells that. Anyway the catalyst has water in it and possibly your oil has water in it. I made ethyl biodiesel with 99.5% ethanol, 199 proof. I used potassium hydroxide with no problems. The only possible cause of your gelling is probably soap. I expect you should not wash your ethyl biodiesel with water, dry wash. I read a formula for making super dry ethanol for use in making barbituric acid and its derivatives. I didn't know anybody sells anhydrous industrial ethanol like that. . I was able to buy 99.5% ethanol, but not 99.9% anhydrous ethanol.

I thought about sources of water in the starting materials. I heated 157.3 grams of technical grade sodium hydroxide hot, to maybe 200 degrees centigrade under 100 millimeters atmospheric pressure in a vacuum still. I obtained a 3.9 gram loss of mass from the sodium hydroxide. So the sodium hydroxide that I used was at least 2.479% water. That's another source of water in the reaction. Your oil may have been wet. When I made biodiesel using new corn oil + potassium hydroxide + 99.5% ethanol + heat + mixing , I got a regular reaction with glycerine drop out as usual. It seems to me the only possible cause of your gelling is water in one of the starting materials.

Where do I find the "like" button?

Hi Paulus,

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Where do I find the "like" button?

Thank you, Tilly, and a beautiful "like" button it is.