I got ahold of about 100 gallons of oil that is titrating very high and when i try and do the transesterification it just turns into glop. I have read a little about putting sulfuric acid into the oil with methanol and mixing it to lower the titration numbers. Anyone using this method?

 

What does it titrate at.

 

6-8 and thats before i add 5 for naoh.

 

That really isnt that bad. How much methanol are you using. You could also put glycerin in it, Heat and let settle. It will pull water and reduce your titration number a little. If you are making glop it may be because of water.

 

That's what I do when I get nasty oil. It adds another day to the process, but results in lower titration due to a partial reaction taking place. The glyerol that settles out is much thicker, and the oil clearer after the process. I use KOH however.

Could also try and find a different source of oil and mix the two together to get lower titration. Have done this too...

 

On the few occasions I've gotten "nasty" oil I just add a little of it to my normal "good" oil and process away! I also use KOH and find it a lot better than NAOH.

 

Don't like Sulfuric Acid myself, nasty stuff. Ruined too many pairs of jeans, a car seat, got in trouble with the wife...

 

Me to

 

I got it from a local conveinence store and i dont know what type of oil it is so i guess im a little lost. Im making 1 liter batches just to test with and they have all come out as glop using this method

1L oil
200ml methanol
+5 whatever i titrate NAOH

I have also heated each batch to about 300F on my stove to get the water out. Any other suggestions on getting water out? The oil looks milky before i heat it and then after its heated and cooled you can see thru it. Any suggestions appreciated.

 

Could be several thing i guess. One is it could be a synthetic veg oil. It also sounds like it may be partally hydronated oil to. There is a place were i get there oil and they use a creamy butter type stuff. I mix it in with my other oil. Also you could try KoH. It is more tolerant of high titrating oil and titration mistakes.

 

i read somewhere that filtering to 10 or less microns will remove some of the water out of the oil. Have you seen this to be true or am i wasting my time filtering the oil that small?

 

I dont know about removing water unless it was a water trap type of filter, But filtering down to 10 or less microns wont hurt. It will give a better reaction.

 

Filtering doesn't remove water, but it does help with titration due to removing the bigger chunks. I don't filter that small going into the processor though, through screen first then a paint strainer (100 micron?) See my gallery. Filter into 55 gallon plastic drum, with output into reactor at the 20 gallon level. Crap that makes it through the filter settles to the bottom of the barrel and is drained off. With Turner and Fab on using KOH.

 

What temp you heating the oil too? I use to get glop and found out I heated it too much and evaporated too much methanol away.