I see AskNott has beaten me to it with a more authoritative cite, but I had a friend who was a McD’s manager once upon a time and he described the process involving a large colander-like thing, laying coffee filters in it, and then the diatomaceous earth. Perhaps you can “pump your sources” (heh) of WVO for information on how they filter their oil for their own reuse.
Anyway, I think it’s neat you’re using WVO - I have a couple questions.
For using 50/50 WVO/diesel, did you have to change your vehicle’s rubber fuel hoses to synthetic?
Have you considered going the extra mile (ok, it’s like $3000) to get a setup to make real biodiesel (i.e., using methanol to remove the glycerin and balance the ph)? And what’s the deal with the IRS and excise taxes, if you know?
I second the swimming pool supply store as being a good source for diatomaceous earth (apx $20 for 25lbs). It beats having to extract the nitroglycerin from dynamite to get the stuff
Make sure you use a breather mask when you work with it.
I worked in the petro chemical field as a pipe fitter in days of yore. 10 microns was a standard standard measurment. I don’t know why.
Offcast water down an injection well, 10 microns, offtest material from the tanks, 10 microns. Water from the evap ponds yea you get the idea.
100 gallons though hmm. We accomplished it by running it through a gravel /sand filter then through aquarium floss. (note, pillow floss wont do the same job, we tried it) Looks the same and is cheaper but no.
You might be able to imitate our rig on a small scale but I dont know. I do know that a gravel/sand filter works on a completely different dynamic than its designers envisioned.
Apparently they thought the coarse gravel would strip the liquid of heavy partictulate then the sand would act as the fine sieve. In reality they swirl around and do something else. But they do trap particulate mater without clogging.
We fabricated our own filter rigs using 3000 gallon tanker trailers, you might be able to get by with a small drum. 30 gallon or so (I assume you want to reuse this rig) I would suggest using garnet sandblasting grit and pea gravel, it worked well on our smaller rigs (water injectors). A big pipe filled with the aquarium floss as a final will probably work fine. Go from 1" to 4" usind a thread bushing and you can change out the filter media pretty easily.
I’ve heard about Racor filters. The goal was apparently 10 microns from a fellow who has been doing this for quite a few years. I am definitely not gonna brew my own Biodiesel. I’ll start with blending, then go to a dual-system vehicle.
Viscosity is king here. I am using a propane-fired deep fryer made for turkey’s, to thin out the stuff 6 gallons at a time. It uses VERY little propane to heat it to 100 *. The alternatives are to wait till it’s 75 degrees here ( mid-May, say ) or not do this at all. Heating it allows me to handle and filter it at a good viscosity. Once I blend it, that’s another story.
Since I am taking it one step at a time, and have not perfected the filtering yet, I haven’t concerned myself with viscosity testing to measure flow rates at different blend ratios. ( By gum, I sound like an engineer ! )
Enola Straight, do you do WVO or Biodiesel, and are you willing to talk to me in emails about some of the minutae of this?
Nope, haven’t achieved 50/50 yet because I am doing this in order.
FIlter purely.
Achieve reasonable viscosity rates in 0- 10 degree weather.
Install dual fuel system. ( next year ).
If it requires a breathing mask, it is not an option for me. I handle all of this outside, but am athsmatic enough that a small inhale of materials THAT fine would wreck me for weeks. Pity, too. I’ve got these pallets of old nitroglycerin in the back yard…
Since these particals settle out have you considered setting up a drum with a tap about 1 foot off the bottom. Put the oil in and let it settle, then slowly drain from that tap. This should reduce the amount of coarse flitering you have to do and extend the filter life.
With the bottoms you can pass it through a very coarse filter and reprocess it or find another use for it like a vented waste oil heater, which you may be able to use to heat up the oil in your turkey heater.
I’ve been following this thread with some interest, since I’ve been considering converting my home heating from No. 2 fuel oil to WVO/biodiesel. Filtering is less of an issue here, but some of the other information presented has been quite useful. Has anyone else here had any experience with this type of conversion? From my research, it seems fairly straightforward, but I’d sure like to hear directly from anyone who has successfully done it.
No, he didn’t get fired. Besides having a great work ethic, he was one of two certified geniuses working there at the time. (No, I wasn’t the other one; I fell a bit short of that line.) He went on to get a doctor-of-history degree, and he’s now a top exec in an auto parts plant. He hopes to teach history at a university when he retires from there.
:dubious: Kinda rare, after just a few days, to take a Doper to task for not directly thanking a poster, but okay. I did read all of the posts in here so far, but have been highly limited in posting time because I’ve been on the road with family. Thank you for the information regarding the sand/gravel filtering. No doubt it works perfectly with the petrolium products. I fear the exposure to the air during the process you describe would raise the viscosity through the roof and render the material too thick to pass through the filter you describe.
This has to be almost kitchen-chemistry stuff. ( though I’m not bringing it into the house for obvious reasons ). I’m handling hundreds of gallons a month if I am fortunate, and about 50-100 if I am not fortunate in gathering oils that month.
kanicbird, I left that jam jar with some of the oil sitting when I left town for the holiday. It sat, untouched, for about…4 1/2 days? I carefully lifted it up and turned it on it’s side and looked at the light through it again. Almost all of the particulate had settled to the bottom, but there was this definite thin haze suspended in the oil. Quite remarkable. Then again, not- the suspension clearly has the same specific gravity as the oil. Using gravity as a filter would never work, but watching this stuff separate out has been interesting.
I’m ordering some of this fellow’s filters and a pump system, which is relatively inexpensive, hardy and perfect for the application. By gum, within the week I shall have filtered oil !! Which is nice, because I’m doing a hell of a lot of driving soon and would love to have some "clean " oil to make use of in a blend.
