I thought I had landed the mother load of all restaurant wvo contacts. That is until I went to view their setup and saw this. It is the Dunkin
Donunts world headquarters in MA. There are two more in the region that produce all the food for all the Dunkins in New England. I thought I had found wvo heaven until I learned that all of their oil comes in a solid form. However, it is not hydrogenated and does not have any trans fats. I know, I'm still confused, here is an article from last year explaining there switch to a healthier oil.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294690,00.html

The plant manager I spoke to was reluctant to give me any information on the manufacturer because its only made for there chain and "top secret" i guess. However, I explained that I just wanted to find out if there was a way to permanently return it to its original liquid state. He told me that the "oil" that they put into the fryers will liquefy at 115 degrees and as soon as it cools it will return to its solid form. Well, I'm new to BD but even I know that ain't getting thru a fuel system. However, he insisted that it was very expensive, high quality canola and soy VO that they use and he would see if he could get some contact info for the manufacturer. My questions are;

1) Does anyone have any idea how they keep it in a solid state without trans fats?

2) More important, does anyone have a clue if it can be permanently restored to a liquid form and if so, how?

3) If it was heated and in a liquid form before transesterfication, would the transesterfication process itself be enough to keep it liquefied as it cooled?

4) If yes, will the whole process  effect the quality of the wvo?

It this is possible,  I would be able to fulfill my wvo needs each month with one pickup a month, that is 20 min. from my garage.

WHHHOOOAAAAA!!!!!  I did a seach and finally figured out how to post pics!!!!!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't have a knowledgable answer for you, but there is a passage in wikipedia which hints at how they may have accomplished the "0 trans-fat" solid shortening. See Trans_fat#Manufacturer_response. "Solid saturated palm oil cut with soybean oil and sunflower oil" is a possibility.

whoops, now if someone could tell me how to not make them the size of a billboard that would be great. Anyway, thats what I have 600 gallons a month of if I want it. I'm waiting to speak to the company who makes it to see if there is a way to keep it in liquid form.

Hi i am new to all of this but have alot of experience working with fats, oils and oil used in a DD setting. in the past ;cube or solid fat shortening would remain liquid after use; although it will cloud and gel in colder temps more than liquid shrtening would. The reality is that cube fat/oil is a product of years back that has remained in use for freight and packaging savings for the bakery and (FastFood)foodservice industry, probably 10-20% of the oil reclaimed for home brew across the country was at one time in cube form. When oil prices shot up a few months back i began seeing cube fat/ oil etc being offered at some savings vs. liquid. It reminded me of when i was 15 years old

Sammy8:

whoops, now if someone could tell me how to not make them the size of a billboard that would be great. Anyway, thats what I have 600 gallons a month of if I want it. I'm waiting to speak to the company who makes it to see if there is a way to keep it in liquid form.

 cutting off and melting chunks into a 450 D dghnut fryer in the middle of August......

 I would give it a shot!!!! Make 25 gallons of bio and see what happens.

I'm no guru, but I would expect this to go back to liquid and stay that way once it is processed into biodiesel. As for the processing ... I would do a test batch of 1 L of the oil just to see how it reacts to a base only process. Just my 2 cents Jim

Sounds to me like it contains palm oil which does solidify at temps warmer than for soy and canola. DD obviously do not want the public to know that they are using palm oil because of the damage palm oil farmers are doing to rain forests in Malaysia and Indonesia.

You will have no issues in making BD out of the oils/fats but would suggest you use it as a blend of 50% or less - probably down to 10% or 5% in winter.

This oil is a highly saturated oil.  It must be due to it's melting point.  It is possible to blend fully hydrogentate oils with untreated oil to replace partially hydrogenated ones and still claim no trans fat.  Fully hydrogenated oils normally contain no trans fat.  However, they have not been proven safe for human consuption.

But, about BD, non of this really matters.  The gel point of the oil and the titration are what matter.  So, you need to find out what the oil titrates at and what temp it gels at.  The rule of thumb is BD gels around 20 degrees f cooler than the feedstock from which it is made, if I recall correctly.

I agree that a test batch is the only way to know for sure, but I suspect (pretty sure) that this will not make good winter fuel.  The fuel may even gel on cool mornings in the spring/summer.

Thanks for all of your help! Would it make a difference if I blended the DD wvo with say a canola based wvo from another source that I know titrates well? For example, if i'm making a 100 gallon batch in a biopro take 40 gallons of the DD wvo and 60 gallons of a canola based wvo and mix them together? My guess is it wouldn't make that much, if any of a difference but I guess its worth a shot. Any ideas? Thanks in advance

It seems like everyone has good information for you.  I hope your source works out.  With your BioPro, you can just put in the solid stuff and trun on the heater and them process as normal. 

bottrigg:

It seems like everyone has good information for you.  I hope your source works out.  With your BioPro, you can just put in the solid stuff and trun on the heater and them process as normal. 

But with the oil hard at room temperature, I believe it will gel at a high temperature once converted into biodiesel too, anyone with me? I have a warehouse full of this kind of shortening. Havent done any tests on it, its brand new oil in 50 lb boxes.