The lazyman process

[K.H]

Sodium methylate might be worth trying with this process with it's higher yields and no water?

[Tony]

I was just thinking that.  Presumably with less water there would be less soap/yield loss.

[Julian]

Liking the sound of this process, sounds ideal for Muppets like me.

Be interesting to try a "Carrington wash", comparing the amount of acid needed, compaired with a normal batch.  Would that give an indication as to where the additional catalyst ends up?

Is the excess of catalyst likely to have an effect on the performance of Glogs?

[Tony]

I've just realised that an extra 200g over the 800g I would usually use is actually 25% extra not 20% extra (though is is 20% of the final amount) so I've gone back and edited my previous posts to reflect this.

[therecklessengineer]

Thought I'd chime in here.

Very similar to what I've been doing, except I don't even bother to titrate any more. I know my titration normally comes out at about 7g/litre, so I normally increase that to about 8g/litre, and just shove it in.

Very rarely get a fail, in which case I drop the glyc and do a 2 stage.

Given your findings Tony, I might increase that to 8.5g/litre.

[Tony]

5 days of settling, Glyc is solid, 50:50 soap test is getting well towards being clear!

Having poured the floating bio from my hastily drained Glyc into the settle drum, the yield looks OK  too.

Edit: just got in a post before me James, good to hear it!  To think I used to be paranoid about going 0.1 over on titrations.

I take it you don't water prewash either?

[K.H]

This must be at the opposite end of the spectrum from the 2 stage non titration

[Keef]

Looks like titration is well out of vogue these days.

It'll be back, just like cheesecloth shirts and monkey boots. 

[Glycer-rides]

The Lazy bug is catching...I'm done with 2am finishes (and not even finished)

With a 'suitable' heated / pumped wvo settle tank, at the end of the WBD, one could immediately use the hot glyc. to dewater the next load of wvo (already heated to 40 C). Maybe pump it about overnight. CH pumps will do the job and have such a small power consumption.

Just avoid any runs of pipe that solid glyc would block when cooled some time later. That would save some heating ... but, would it be as good as 105 C boiling off?
No use for really wet oil as the glyc from a same sized batch isn't enough but for good clear, low tit wvo, 20% glyc could be enough.

What does the panel think?

[Tony]

A very good question.  I guess any WBD process allows for the Glyc to be used straight after for drying, but how well it dries, I don't know.  I think that would require experimenting using Keith's water test kit.

However, if you have damp oil I would imagine that Glyc only has a certain capacity for water extraction, so you couldn't be sure the oil was dry without testing.  At least with heating over 105C you can be pretty sure there is minimal water left.

[Tony]

Tested the bio for soap today and got a lovely clear 50:50   Will be doing another batch this way as soon as I've dewatered some more oil.

[Tony]

Did another batch this way no problem.  Nice clear 3/27 pass again after single staging.  It's settling now.  So easy, no titration and no faffing with two stage glyc.

[Carrington]

You'll all miss titrating  when it's gone
I on the other hand have to titrate 5x per batch so I'll always be happy in the knolage that I'm not in the in crowd

Paul

[Head Womble]

With a 'suitable' heated / pumped wvo settle tank, at the end of the WBD, one could immediately use the hot glyc. to dewater the next load of wvo (already heated to 40 C). Maybe pump it about overnight. CH pumps will do the job and have such a small power consumption.

Just avoid any runs of pipe that solid glyc would block when cooled some time later. That would save some heating ...

What does the panel think?

If you ran a reversed flow system (pumped from the top to the bottom) and had the outlet central in the drum and just above the settled gly level you wouldn't suffer from blocked pipes, just a big lump in the bottom if the pump stopped overnight.

[Tony]

Well I've been doing this for months now, overdosing the catalyst.  Not had a bad batch yet!  Yield does not seem to be noticeably less, though my processing time is as I'm getting a clear pass with a single stage.