Hey Sam, what a neat and thorough explaining of a complex topic. I’m happy to see that you were not asleep during all your chemistry classes! Keep up the good work and let us know how the biodiesel project is going. Holiday best,
Rodney
on 28 Nov 2004 at 9:43 pm jafar
Man, I miss chem class. Maybe I should eventually make a processor. So are you coming out for winter or what?
on 06 Dec 2004 at 10:48 am Chris
Nice write up. But I’m curious as to the 5 g base NaOH that you call for. I’m used to Tickell’s 3.5 g base lye. Where do you get the 5 g base value from?
Tickell’s values are a little old, and not the most accurate anymore. 3.5g of lye will indeed produce biodiesel, but will leave you wide open for under-converted fuel, which is a difficult to pinpoint problem.
4.5 – 5g of lye is the more commonly accepted standard now-a-days, ensuring a more complete conversion.
There is no ‘one right answer’ when it comes to base values, but I’m trusting current research which suggests the 4.5-5.0g range, and its been working well for myself and others. Since lye is not very expensive, an extra 1.0-1.5g per liter is cheap insurance against underconversion.
Hope that helps!
on 18 Feb 2007 at 7:12 pm Alan M
At what titrartion value do you consider the oil unusable? I titrated my wvo at 5.5 to 6 ml using 0.1 % lye & distilled water
Hey Sam, what a neat and thorough explaining of a complex topic. I’m happy to see that you were not asleep during all your chemistry classes! Keep up the good work and let us know how the biodiesel project is going. Holiday best,
Rodney
Man, I miss chem class. Maybe I should eventually make a processor. So are you coming out for winter or what?
Nice write up. But I’m curious as to the 5 g base NaOH that you call for. I’m used to Tickell’s 3.5 g base lye. Where do you get the 5 g base value from?
Tickell’s values are a little old, and not the most accurate anymore. 3.5g of lye will indeed produce biodiesel, but will leave you wide open for under-converted fuel, which is a difficult to pinpoint problem.
4.5 – 5g of lye is the more commonly accepted standard now-a-days, ensuring a more complete conversion.
There is no ‘one right answer’ when it comes to base values, but I’m trusting current research which suggests the 4.5-5.0g range, and its been working well for myself and others. Since lye is not very expensive, an extra 1.0-1.5g per liter is cheap insurance against underconversion.
Hope that helps!
At what titrartion value do you consider the oil unusable? I titrated my wvo at 5.5 to 6 ml using 0.1 % lye & distilled water
Where is the visual part of this guide?