Hi All
Hopefully the post on FFA's has been of some assistance to people here
the post on titration some weeks back most likely has been of some assistance as well
I thought that it may be a good idea to summarise here as well as define some terms used in these post's
Unfortunately as much as one wants to avoid the use of chemical terminology they will and do crop up
I will attempt to keep those technical terms used commonly in chemistry relating to biodiesel production within the parameters of the post on titration as well as Free fatty acids
Here we Go;
Titration: A method for a quantitive analysis of a substance by an essentially complete reaction in solution with a measured quantity of a reagent of known concentration
Equivalence point:The point in a titration at which one reactant has been exactly consumed by addition of the other reactant
End point:The point in a titration at which the indicator signals that a stoichiometric amount of the first reactant has been added to the second reactant
The last two definitions quite often are bundled in one by chemist's for practical reasons
Stoichiometry: The study of mass relationships in chemical reactions
May be we need to elaborate a bit on the last point
When we say that we must titrate, we do so we can find how much extra lye we need to use
We titrate to find the "acid value" of the WVO
We add that to the 1% that is required to catalyze the perfect oil with no FFA's
This 1% of 100% lye has been worked out Stoichiometrically
If we use a lye with less purity than 100% we need to add the difference
If the lye we have is 90% pure we must add an extra 10% on top of the amount indicated
So much for Titration Now on some other terms used in our endeavours
Esters: Carboxylic acids or Fatty acids as found in oils and fats from plants or animals
Tri-esters: Another name for triglycerides or fatty acids attached to glycerol
(FFA's can thus be considered as an ester as they are a Carboxylic acid)
Esterification: The process of reacting a Carboxylic acid with an alcohol in the presence of a strong acid
Transesterification: The displacement of one alcohol with another alcohol from an ester, it is also called Alcoholysis (cleavage by alcohol)
Taking into account what we know or learned so far and given a clear understanding of the steps as well as how the materials involved are used in the whole process it is how it works
And this is exactly what we do in making biodiesel, in the final step we displace the glycerol, which is an alcohol, in the fat or oil, with methanol or ethanol so as to get biodiesel
If we use Methanol is called a Methyl ester
Another name that better defines it is FAME Fatty Acid Methyl Ester
Comments as well as correction will be welcomed
Hopefully the post on FFA's has been of some assistance to people here
the post on titration some weeks back most likely has been of some assistance as well
I thought that it may be a good idea to summarise here as well as define some terms used in these post's
Unfortunately as much as one wants to avoid the use of chemical terminology they will and do crop up
I will attempt to keep those technical terms used commonly in chemistry relating to biodiesel production within the parameters of the post on titration as well as Free fatty acids
Here we Go;
Titration: A method for a quantitive analysis of a substance by an essentially complete reaction in solution with a measured quantity of a reagent of known concentration
Equivalence point:The point in a titration at which one reactant has been exactly consumed by addition of the other reactant
End point:The point in a titration at which the indicator signals that a stoichiometric amount of the first reactant has been added to the second reactant
The last two definitions quite often are bundled in one by chemist's for practical reasons
Stoichiometry: The study of mass relationships in chemical reactions
May be we need to elaborate a bit on the last point
When we say that we must titrate, we do so we can find how much extra lye we need to use
We titrate to find the "acid value" of the WVO
We add that to the 1% that is required to catalyze the perfect oil with no FFA's
This 1% of 100% lye has been worked out Stoichiometrically
If we use a lye with less purity than 100% we need to add the difference
If the lye we have is 90% pure we must add an extra 10% on top of the amount indicated
So much for Titration Now on some other terms used in our endeavours
Esters: Carboxylic acids or Fatty acids as found in oils and fats from plants or animals
Tri-esters: Another name for triglycerides or fatty acids attached to glycerol
(FFA's can thus be considered as an ester as they are a Carboxylic acid)
Esterification: The process of reacting a Carboxylic acid with an alcohol in the presence of a strong acid
Transesterification: The displacement of one alcohol with another alcohol from an ester, it is also called Alcoholysis (cleavage by alcohol)
Taking into account what we know or learned so far and given a clear understanding of the steps as well as how the materials involved are used in the whole process it is how it works
And this is exactly what we do in making biodiesel, in the final step we displace the glycerol, which is an alcohol, in the fat or oil, with methanol or ethanol so as to get biodiesel
If we use Methanol is called a Methyl ester
Another name that better defines it is FAME Fatty Acid Methyl Ester
Comments as well as correction will be welcomed
Comment