Possible way of dealing with solids

[Julian]

I've been lucky in that my collections have all been good, liquid oil for quite a long time now.

But I've come across a tin in the stock pile from a one off collection that's fairly thick fat.  It'll still pour, (just) at these temperatures but, I started wondering about a different way to handle it without heating, so I tried mixing it with bio.

I tried a 50/50 mix of a small quantity and after a good stir it reached the approximate consistency of good oil.  After a few hours of settling a thin layer of bio was evident on the top, but the bulk remained runny.

Probably not the most economical way of handling whites and fat, but, the with a little more experimentation, the idea may help people with no means of heating drums and cubies.

It would be interesting to try a larger scale test using a full tin and a hand drill with a plaster mixing attachment.

[Chug]

That is interesting Julian,

I assume both solids and bio were at the same temp?

[julianf]

I seem to remember its something to do with the 'wiggly' molecules getting in the way of the 'straight' ones stacking properly.

Certainly, when you make bio, you can reduce the melting point of pure tallow bio by adding a bit of liquid veg bio.

When i was cooking tallow, the pure bio would freeze at about 13c, but adding a bit of veg bio made it disproportionately more usable (subjectively - i never did any strict quantitative tests)

[Julian]

I assume both solids and bio were at the same temp?

Yes, both ambient shed temp ... guessing around 6 - 8°C.

[Julian]

I seem to remember its something to do with the 'wiggly' molecules getting in the way of the 'straight' ones stacking properly.

So that would be a mechanical function then?

If it is would violent mixing have a greater effect?

[Tony]

I seem to remember its something to do with the 'wiggly' molecules getting in the way of the 'straight' ones stacking properly.

I would have thought that the straight ones get in the way of the wiggly ones with three arms tangling together?*

At any rate I'm not sure I could overcome the mental barrier of mixing good bio with manky veg.





*definitely not a chemist