soap or oil/fats?

[Vijay]

Got a few containers that I'm not exactly sure what they are. They were from a batch where it went wrong and I ended up deciding to empty the processor and start a new batch. The stuff is solid but is there an easy way to tell if it's soap or just solid oil/fat? If I heat it and it goes liquid, does that tell me it's oil and not soap, or does soap melt exactly the same?

[Dickjotec]

I would just do a 1L batch and see what happens.

[dgs]

If its been made with Na chances are its soap. If thats the case then approx 65% of it will be bio. Trick is to heat it until its liquid then add some liquid K glycerol and mix for a while, that usually does the trick.

[Vijay]

If its been made with Na chances are its soap. If thats the case then approx 65% of it will be bio. Trick is to heat it until its liquid then add some liquid K glycerol and mix for a while, that usually does the trick.

Missed that reply and only just getting round to this stuff again.

I can't remember for sure but I think it was made with Na.  So soap will just melt to liquid with heat?

I haven't got any liquid K glyc, anything else I can do?

[dgs]

The soap is absorbed by the glycerol and leaves the bio behind. Jelly type soap from Na catalyst as 'Neutral' found is approx 1/3 soap and 2/3 bio so its worth trying to reclaim the bio.

I suppose you can try your Na glycerol but its the difficulty of warming it up to get it liquid and then removing it quick enough so it doesn't go solid.

[Vijay]

If I added a small percent (say 10%) to a batch and do glycerol washes (which are Na), would that leave the bio in the oil and the soaps drain with the glyc then?

[dgs]

If you only added 10% glycerol you will probably find it would take ages to drop, if at all. When I have recovered batches for people I have added at least 30% glycerol. You need enough to absorb all the excess soap.

I know this may sound mad but you may find there is something to be gained from adding a small amount of water to your Na glycerol to make it liquid. From tests I did years ago, glycerol with 10% water added still reduced the water content in oil, so it may work. You could always try a small trial batch to see.

[countrypaul]

Do you remember what acually went wrong wit the orignal batch?

If the original oil was very wet then you may have just converted all the caustic to soap and produced little bio for example.

[Chug]

After you've mixed it drain the lot into cubees, wait for the glyc to set and then pour off what's left on top and see what ya got.

[Vijay]

If you only added 10% glycerol you will probably find it would take ages to drop, if at all. When I have recovered batches for people I have added at least 30% glycerol. You need enough to absorb all the excess soap.

I know this may sound mad but you may find there is something to be gained from adding a small amount of water to your Na glycerol to make it liquid. From tests I did years ago, glycerol with 10% water added still reduced the water content in oil, so it may work. You could always try a small trial batch to see.

I meant 10% of the soap/fat mixture to the batch. I ended up doing that and did a glyc prewash. Titrates at 6.5 so will do a few more glyc washes