Wvo filtration

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T

TuffMudder

Still working on my FJ55!
10 Year
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Oct 2, 2013
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758
Location
Fort Smith, AR
As some of you know, I plan to make my pig capable of running on used fry oil. I (mostly) finished my centrifuge filtration system today and wanted to post up some pics.

I still need a pickup tube which I hope to get Monday and then I'll be able to test it on the 30 gallons of waste veg oil I already have collected






















Sent from my iPhone
 
Very nice looking setup! Let me first say, I know swat about this, but have known a few guys that have used various fuels. The one guy had to heat his drum, in order to refine it. Seemed to work better, warm. I remember him saying the more ( cycles ) you refine it, the less filters you use on the truck.


I can run multi fuels in my M35 Deuce, from straight drain oil to transmission fluid. It all runs better, when filtered a lot. A fun project, if you can get a good and cheap supply of oil. One guy, before it got popular, was getting popcorn oil from all the movie houses. Hauled a 250 gal. tank on a trailer for collection.


Good luck with your project!
 
Pablo,


Running Veg. oil can be a big game changer, if you have a steady supply. If I remember correct, the guy I knew, was spending 17 cents a gal. for running cooking oil. That's after paying Mo. road tax on it. The State told him, he was the only guy who ever asked to pay the tax? A lot of work, more like a paying hobby, for most.
 
The barrel has a 1000 watt silicon barrel heater and the 1" pipe running up the side has a T at the bottom and another at the top. Each T holds a 4500 watt water heater element in the pipe. The heat creates evaporative losses (wvo had to be dewatered) and decreases viscosity which is necessary for the centrifuge to work.

The pump will push the wvo through the centrifuge at 1gpm at ~180 degrees and 80 psi. I will let the filter run long enough to get 6 passes (a 30 gallon batch at 1 home would need 3 hours) which will dewater and filter down to 1 micron.

I'm currently getting wvo for 25 cents a gallon from 3 sources so I should have a surplus.

Using a waste product as a cheap full that burns cleaner is a win all the way around. As a bonus, I can use wvo from my sisters donut shop and drive down the road smelling like freshly baked donuts!



Sent from my iPhone
 
That's right, now I remember, it's about getting the water out. Should of known I was talking without thinking. Can you mix it with diesel or do you have to clean the system, then run WVO.
 
It's a too part process. The dewatering and the filtration are equally important. Considering I've spent months on forums learning this stuff and am still far from an expert, I'd call your off the cuff remarks pretty spot on

Wvo can be ran in a single tank system where you mix it with diesel or you can mix it with regular unleaded gas often abbreviated rug. It's easier but typically single tank systems are limited to warmer weather and carry an increased risk of running your veg oil too thick causing coming and shortening engine life.

A second option is the two tank system that I will be using. A veg oil tank is set up with a coolant loop that warms the fuel line using a hose in hose counter current design and wraps around the fuel tank pick up. Additional warming is often used like a flat plate heat exchanger or in my case I'm.adding a silicon pad heater to the veg oil filter and injection heaters.

You start the engine on diesel and switch to veg oil I. E the engine is at operating temp. You then want to run the car on diesel again for the last minute so of your trip to flush the veg oil from the lines

All of this is to make sure the engine only runs on veg oil that is 160 degrees or warmer. Cold veg oil is too viscous. It will still run the engine but will eventually cause cokiing which will shorten your engine life


Sent from my iPhone
 
Are you planning on DDing this truck? Mine was setup for dual tank WVO when I got it, the secondary tank was leaking so I've removed most of it at this point. It's a pain switching and waiting if you don't drive a lot of miles at one time, I'm just running pump diesel or biodiesel when I can get it now (not a huge price hit due to 25mpg). Sounds like you've been doing all the research, I recommend running Viton for all your fuel lines and a good filter. It was cool smelling like French fries ...

Tucker

BTW: I've still got the 22gal aux tank that mounts between the frame rail and DS in front of the rear axle, you're welcome to it for shipping if you don't have a solution there ... it needs to be boiled, braised and lined. You don't want a tank inside, a friend of mine did that in a Liberty CRD and it was pretty terrible dealing with that in the back ;-)
 
The car wasn't designed to be a daily driver. I wanted off road capability first and foremost. That being said, if I can get it to have acceptable on road manners I will likely drive it regularly in town.

If I can't get her to handle well on road she will primarily be for off roading and banging around on some property I recently bought. It's 300 acres and is 30-40 min from my house so plenty of time to get up to operating temp and switch to veg tank. Also, I'm installing a block heater to get me to operating temps quicker.

Your tank is an interesting proposition, and I may well take you up on that. I had planned on the auxiliary tank being passenger rear cargo area along the wall between the wheel hump and the back corner. I would have a tank fill flush mounted on the outside of the rear panel with a door to match the primary tank fill.

What problems did your friend encounter with a veg oil tank in the cab?
 
tucker74 said:
His tank filled from the inside, WVO is an oily mess as you'll soon be intently familiar with ;)
Tucker
Click to expand...

I thought that might be what you meant.

My initial design involved filling from the inside as well, but I got to thinking about the mess that would make. I'm going to have a custom drawer in the back the width of the tailgate. That will leave some deadspace between the drawer and side wall from the tailgate to the wheel hump. If i put a gas tank there to fill it, I can then have a hole cut on the outside passenger rear quarter to fill through and make it look like the fuel door that is already on the drivers side.

That being said, if it doesnt work as I planned, I may well hit you up for the tank you mentioned. What is that tank made of?
 
Hey Tucker, tried to send you a pm, but was on tapatalk which pretty much sucks. Don't suppose you still have that auxillary tank?
 
After developing a backlog of waste veg oil in my garage (my wife has been thrilled about that), and having had to revise my filter a half dozen times for one problem on another (including 4 blow outs that sprayed hot vegetable oil all over my garage :( ), I finally got around to filtering veg oil in earnest last weekend. I can do about 35 gallons at a time in my set up and I run it for about 3 hours after the temp has gotten over 145 which should work out to about 6 full passes through the centrifuge.

Tonights batch put me at about 150 gallons cleaned and ready to burn with another 70 or so in settling containers. I'm going to try to pick up a large cube tote for long term storage this week and maybe get some 55 gallon barrels out of my garage. I know my wife would certainly appreciate :)

My welder thinks he can squeeze a second fill port next to the current one so the veg tank will fill externally, because turns out tucker was right...WVO is an absolute mess to work with!
 
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