Batch #2 coming up...Maybe this one will work..............

[mannytranny]

Had my first >2g batch turn to jelly on me. NO FUN. No one wants the stuff. I had to do something with it thats probably not the best thing to do, but....Anyway.

I later found that if you wash the crap out of it, you will end up with BD. But, again, that was after it was long gone.

So I snooped around here and found an unattanded drum. Filled up a 5g bucket. Drove carefully home.

I hope to do it tomorrow. This better work. Im afraid that another mess will piss me off.

Ill let you all know how goes it.

[mattymx]

Keep at it Manny and it will work out. I should be up and running in about 1 month. That should give me enough time to get moved in the new house and get everything in order.

[mannytranny]

Ill keep at it, but nothing kills the joy quite like spending an hour trying to clean up jelly........... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

I will always be skimping on the lye for now, so I hope to never have this problem again...

In what size container are you going to be doing your batches?

[mattymx]

I think that with every new batch of WVO I get, I will test in small amounts. I want to get 5 gallon batches done right to keep the margin of error down. What about you?

[mannytranny]

Ya, my tank is 15g, but Ill stick to 5g or smaller baches until I get it figured out.....

[mannytranny]

JELLY AGAIN. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

No titration, I was planning on low balling it on the lye.

2g of oil, 1650 ml of methanol, 42 grams of lye (<6g/L). JELLY.

It took a long time during the stirring state to go to jelly, but it made it there.

The oil was not very clean looking either.......Maybe it just has a ton of water in it. I dont know why though.

This is getting to be a pisser. At least I didnt do the entire 5g!

Im gonna wash this one until all the soaps go away........... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]

[Ford_Forgotton]

2g = 7.57 liters.

7.57 * 3.5 (3.5 grams per liter of pure oil) = 26.49 grams of lye had this been pure oil.

titration would allow you to find out how much ADDITIONAL lye was needed over the 26.49 grams.

Even people who guess on the lye dont usually go much over 5 grams per liter.

20% of 7.57 would be 1.54 liters of methanol. (this of course is by volume. The correct measurements are supposed to be done by weight/mass).

My guess is your over estimating on the lye/methanol mix. If the oil your using is pretty clear/ lightly used, do a 20% methanol and 4.5 to 5 grams per litre methoxide mix and see what you get. Probably wouldnt hurt to do smaller batches until you get your mix right. Less waste.

Or, you could learn how to do titrations. They really arent that hard once you have your supply of .1% mix standing by and an eyedropper with 1ml graduation marks.

[GraemeDiesel]

That stinks. Better luck with your next batch.

[mannytranny]

Luckily it was a smaller batch...

With my last one that jellied, I did a test batch, and it worked fine at 7g/l, and then I did another tester that jellied and then came back at 8g/l. But that one was different.......

Ill go even lower on the next one.

I had always heard that you are supposed to start with 5g, and add your titration number to that...

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]

[Houndog]

You always start with 3.5 and add your titration number to that. Manny - you really need to do a titration. I don't do them anymore since I'm picking up the same oil on the same days from the same places. Whenever I get another restaurant in my oil supply, I always titrate again. Start out your biodiesel life correctly and titrate - less headaches and more instant gratification.

Houndog

[Ford_Forgotton]

[ QUOTE ]
I had always heard that you are supposed to start with 5g, and add your titration number to that...

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

5g is the "typical" USED OIL number. 3.5g is the base number for PURE VIRGIN oil. Knowing that pure oil needs 3.5g per liter, you do your titrations to find out how many additional grams over 3.5 you need to convert not only the original oil, but the free fatty acids that are created from the act of cooking with the oil. So, 3.5 grams converts the oil, and the additional 1 to 4 grams converts the FFA's.

UNDER-processing the oil should still give you a useable fuel, but it will be somewhere between good clean Bio-D and waste oil. It might have a gelpoint between the two also.

I just need to stop at the parts store tomorrow and grab a can of HEET and I will have enough to do a demo batch of virgin oil. Since it is virgin, I can use the 20% methanol and 3.5 grams of lye to 1 litre of pure oil ratios.

[mannytranny]

Hell, Ill just do it then. Ive got a reliable source, but it is about 25 miles away, but on the way back from a good mountain bike ride........

Titrations, here I come...................... [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]

[Houndog]

I've seen you post this stuff in two different places, but I believe you read this forum a bit more so hear goes. Your titration is going to give you the correct amount of lye to use, but it will not tell you anything about the water content in your oil. If you have any water in your oil, even with the correct titration numbers, you will still end up with slop. Don't confuse these two issues. In the beginning, I use to have a bad problem with water from the restaurants boiling (cleaning) out the fryers and dumpiong that whole mess into the trap. I made big time slop. One hundred and twenty gallons of it! So then I started using my turkey fryer to boil it five gallons at a time before it went into my reaction tank. It took massive anounts of time, but I began to understand the mechanics of this BD stuff. There's a guy you've probably seen named John O that helped me turn the corner on this very same aspect that you're going through. If you post you e=mail address, I'll send you pics of my slop and you can tell if it's the same applesauce looking stuff that your getting. How do we post pics on this forum anyway?

Houndog

[mannytranny]

See, the thing that confuses me is that I made a perfect batch out of 500 ml of the oil that gave my first batch of slop. I even used less lye on the larger batch. That was 7g/l lye, and then I tried another 500 ml batch, and steped it up to 8g/l, and got jelly, that oddly enough turned into fine looking BD.

I will do a water test on the oil. What I will do is stick to one oil source at a time. Enough screwing around, time to make some good BD.

my email address is matt at innominate.c c

Pics would be great!

Maybe I am not using enough methanol. I did 22% on both test and jelly batches. Maybe I need heat...