Biodiesel Titration Formula



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Here are the biodiesel titration calculations for finding how much catalyst will be needed to make a batch of biodiesel. There is even a special calculation to account for catalyst purity!


The Basic Titration Formula:

• Here is the formula for making biodiesel from SVO using a catalyst of 100% purity:7 grams potash per liter of oil + oil + 20% methanol.

• When using lye, you will substitute 7 for 5.5 grams; we’ll call this the base number.

• So, to calculate how much catalyst YOU will need if it is 100% pure:7 (or 5.5)+ the number of ml of titration solution used to neutralize the oil = how many grams of catalyst will be needed per liter of oil when making a batch of fuel.




Catalyst Purity:

• NOTE: If you are using a catalyst that is not 100% pure (which is common), you will need to do an additional calculation. You will divide the base number by the purity percentage of your catalyst.

• Let’s pretend your resulting titration number was 5, and you used potash that was 95% pure. You would divide 7 by .95 which rounds to 7.4. Then add your titration result (5) to 7.4 which equals 12.4. In this case you would add 12.4 grams of potash to every liter of oil used in your biodiesel batch.


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