my supervisor asked me to analyze glycerin in biodiesel.
2006-07-23 04:17:39 · 3 answers · asked by daisy 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
I apologize, I was a little unclear in my revious answer. There is a small amount of glycerin in biodiesel; biodiesel is a polar solvent, so glycerin should dissolve in it slightly. However, glycerin is a byproduct of the reaction, and it is considered a contaminant for previously mentioned reasons (it causes increased viscosity and corrosiveness). Therefore, one goal of biodiesel production is to extract as much glycerin as possible from the biodiesel.
Glycerin and biodiesel have vastly different boiling points, so I would do a GC-MS (or even plain GC: glycerin boils at 182 C) on the biodiesel sample. You can easily identify glycerin and determine the concentration this way. There may be multiple components of the biodiesel, depending on what was used as a starting material. There should not be much glycerin though!
2006-07-23 04:34:59 · answer #1 · answered by armchairpolitician 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes.The biodiesel process turns the oils and fats into
esters, separating out the glycerine.
2006-07-23 12:43:50 · answer #2 · answered by star123 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well if your analyzing it you tell us
2006-07-23 11:21:35 · answer #3 · answered by kcracer1 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋