i cant seem to get all the lye to mix out all the way, i have been using a hand held blender .. and i blend it for 5 mins or so then let it sit for a while then do it again , and repeat about 3 time.. anyway there is always a lot left over in the bottom, diesels is coming out ok, but dont know why the lye wont mix out !
what am i doing wrong ?.. i am using some lye out of a small bottle and it also has some small purple dot in it... i have a 50 lb bag from hill brother chem that i have not yet opened.. was trying to use up this other stuff.
thanks
chad

 

Dump the junk, it sounds like it may be Drano, or something else like it. Desolving lye in methanol is difficult. That is one of the reasons why I changed to KOH, it go's into suspension much quicker. FABMANDELUX.

 

Follow Fab's advice dump the Drano!! I use lye not KOH. It does disolve a little more difficultly but it is fine takes about 15 mins if mixed like you say. You must be using either a mixture of something with the lye or contaminated lye. Open the bag and us it. Place it in a 5 gallon bucket with an air tight lid as not to ruin it from moisture in the air, and Label the bucket!!!!!

 

i have not yet got back to it in a few days, but thats sound good, the drain-o i a musing may not be the best for this. the bag i bought from hill brothers chem is sodium hydroxide , soild caustic soda , flake.
does that sound like the right stuff ?
i ask for lye and that is what they gave me
been sick last few days and have not messed with it

 

Caustic Soda is potassium hydroxide :KOH, Lye is sodium hydroxide: NaOH. I use KOH because it desolves much easier, and the glycerol stays liquid. In my area the glycerol hardens to a solid overnight. By using KOH I do not have to reheat it to pump into my "still" to recover methanol.FABMANDELUX

 

ok.. looking at the msds it say i have sodium hydroxide. 100%
is this the right stuff ?
thanks
chad

 

Yep, that's the "right stuff" Good luck and let us know how your first batch turns out! FABMANDELUX

 

ok, making first 10 liter batch right now with new lye bag. wont know for an hour, but... all the lye did dissolve this time.. took about 40 mins
also dumped the 6 gal's of bio I made last week into truck tonight.. did note that it had some more sentiment in it. good thing to let it set for a week or so.. will know tomorrow how the truck likes it. !
just got back from a camping trip.. man this truck pulls its .ss off. I pulled my 28 ft playmor travel trailer and behind that i had my 16ft car haul loaded with qauds,etc pulled with no problem

 

Careful with the KOH flake. I use 45% KOH solution and flake at work in a chemical plant. I really didnt think about the sweat on your skin, until I got some of the flake dust on my hand and continued for about 20 minutes and the tingling and burning left something to be desired. No damage to me but just a thought to watch out for.

I wish the chemical company would buy some extra and let us get it at cost but then they dont want the liability. We tried to buy an old 500 gallon reactor off of them for bio purposes but no go.

Anthony

 

ya, have burned my self.. a little on my arm were it got me too.

 

If i just want to make 30 gal. of BIO, how much lye and how much ethanol do i need?

 

The basic formula is: 800ml waste oil [80%] + 200ml methanol [20%] + 5gms base lye + titration.

30 gal wvo+6 gal methanol + 2.5lbs NaOH = 30 gal biodiesel + 6 gal glycerol.FABMANDELUX

 

I have been doing some titration with store bought veg oil. The formula I'm using is 100ml 91% isopropal to 10ml new oil and 10 drops phenolthalene. Using a 0.1% solution of reagent grade sodiumhydroxide for my titrant. I am monitoring the ph with a digital lab meter to see exactly what color the phenol should turn. The result is usually less than .5 ml of titrant to get to 8.5 and the phenolthalene is not producing any noticable color. I have multiplied the original recipe found on biodieselcommunity.org by ten to make it easier to work with. Obviously I'm doing something wrong. Anyone got any advice?

 

Not me.................since I don't do titrations.


FABMANDELUX.

 

why dont you do titrations fabman? what do you do instead? or do you just skip the step n play it by ear or sight in this case?