Sloper,
after 775 replies in this thread it is time for some tentative numbers.
As promised I made a fresh batch of "modified" olive oil and measured its viscosity, confronting also with the unmodified one and an unmodified sunflower.
These are the first numbers obtained after modifying up to 165°C:
SampleTemperature 23°C , Calibration Viscosity 39 centistokes.
MEASURED VISCOSITY:
OLIVE UNMODIFIED 61 centistokes,
MODIFIED OLIVE 68 centistokes,
UNMODIFIED SUNFLOWER 56 centistokes.
THE MORE I TRY THE MORE I AM GOING TO BE CONVINCED THAT THE "MODIFYING" IS A SIMPLE BLEACHING-DEGUMMING.
The observed increase in viscosity after modifying is consistent with other experiments using high temperature bleaching. This was not assessed in the original article reported in page 29, I do not know why. Maybe the author was using a really cheap oil needing for bleaching and he did not pursue increasing viscosity.
I guess the observed increase of viscosity is due to a first stage of polymerization due to the action of temperature. If this polymerization is contained, it should help lubrication of open crankase engine such as ours by increasing the rather low inherent low viscosity of common edible vegetable oils. This treatment could reduce the useful life of the oil by destroying or reducing clorophyll and tocopherol, that means it should be kept in dark bottles. No air preferable.
I am temped to modify also sunflower and test resulting viscosity.
Ugo