wmo filtering

[pigpen60]

what micron filters are you running from waste oil to finished product? also how hot do you get the oil in order to cook off the water? or is there a filter that can replace the heat altogether? thank you, tom

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Hey Tom, welcome to the site!

There have been lots of threads on this topic. The search function isn't the best but with a little work or using google to look under this domain name, things can be found.

I let my oil sit in drums for about a month, then pull off the top 90% if the oil was basically good going in. Then I run my oil through a 150 micron strainer. After that I heat the oil to 140 degrees in an old electric waterheater. After that, I run through a 50 micron, then a 20 micron with water block, then a 5 micron water block into the vehicle.

 

[pigpen60]

did some searching but kept getting lost in all the side details. thanks, tom

 

[bill2444]

I like to filter mine down to 1 micron. And use a 1/2 micron filter when filling the truck. Changing filters on the road sucks. So if you filter finer than your onboard filters...notin but smooth sailing. The easiest way i've found is if freezes in your area you can strain out the ice on the suction side of your pump rig.

 

[dikwks]

Tom. Just use your imagination. I'm running oil through 3 house water filters with modified filter elements in 50, 25 and 10 micron ratings from a "dirty" settling tank into a "clean" settling tank. I drain the water out of valves mounted low on the tanks and draw oil from them with valves mounted about 4 inches higher. Both are old home heating fuel tanks (free), painted black with the dirty tank mounted above the clean tank. I can gravity feed or use 1 of 3 different pumping systems ( 2 were free and one bought surplus. The keys are getting the water out and getting the particles out. The oil will be dark but still clear and will burn just fine. As a safety, keep a set of filters in the truck. Just keep thinking cheap and clean, you will do just fine. Dick.

 

[pigpen60]

when i started looking at this i thought 1 micron was overkill (or 1/2 for that matter) but i see that more time you put in the less down time later. thanks, tom

 

[bill2444]

While using a 1 micron filter sounds good. The reality is that bag filters are around 90% efficient, so some larger particles make it thru. But they are enexpensive. Although absolute filters are availbile they are much more expensive. So i figure my final product is probally 5 micron or better. Never had any problems with this method.... In the begining there was a learning curve. time usually=money. If you have the time use alt fuels and make them suitable, if you have the money buy diesel.

 

[rolling18]

how hot do you get the oil in order to cook off the water? or is there a filter that can replace the heat altogether? thank you, tom

I also have been looking for this answer for a long long time and could not come up with any hard numbers.

So, figuring water boils at about 212deg. Ill heat my oil in a 55 gal drum w/ immersion heater to about 250 to a slow boil... Ill boil the oil till all the light brown is gone and not "foamy" anymore.
"
Then after heating, I'll multi-stage filter it into my main holding tank. Just be sure to leave the lid off so the condensation from the heat doesn't "sweat" more water back into your oil.

 

[Beyond Biodiesel]

when i started looking at this i thought 1 micron was overkill (or 1/2 for that matter) but i see that more time you put in the less down time later. thanks, tom

I, like pigpen60, thought filtering any waste oil down to 1-micron was overkill, but then I had chronic coked injectors after only 3 days filtering my WMO blends down to only 5 microns. So, I added the 1-micron bag filter. It helped, I got 1-4 weeks on those blends before my injectors coked solid.

But, 1-4 weeks on WMO blends before my injectors coked solid, was not good enough, so last year about this time I bought a centrifuge, it helped a lot. I got 1-2 months of running on 80-20 WMO blends before my injectors coked shut.

I was amazed at how much crud came out of my centrifuge bowl after blending, settle WMO-gasoline blends for weeks, then filter through a 1-micron bag filter. So, I was happy to add the centrifuge into my fuel making operation.

Since then, I have stopped burning WMO, because my engine would still coke its injectors on only 20% WMO-blend in my fuel blend, but I keep using the centrifuge in making my WVO blends, because it is now part of my waste-oil fuel making operation, and it removes enough particulate from my WVO blends to justify keeping it in the loop.

I figure waste oil fuel blends can never be too clean. So, I am now working on a WMO distillation system, and what little distilled WMO I have run through my engine has not posed any problem at all so far. However, I am still developing and testing.

 

[rtbcoop]

I agree with Beyond Biodiesel, look into a centrifuge. It's a little more pricy on the the front end but it will filter better than a 1/2 micron filter and they don't need to be replaced.

 

[svd dragunov]

I, like pigpen60, thought filtering any waste oil down to 1-micron was overkill, but then I had chronic coked injectors after only 3 days filtering my WMO blends down to only 5 microns. So, I added the 1-micron bag filter. It helped, I got 1-4 weeks on those blends before my injectors coked solid.

But, 1-4 weeks on WMO blends before my injectors coked solid, was not good enough, so last year about this time I bought a centrifuge, it helped a lot. I got 1-2 months of running on 80-20 WMO blends before my injectors coked shut.

I was amazed at how much crud came out of my centrifuge bowl after blending, settle WMO-gasoline blends for weeks, then filter through a 1-micron bag filter. So, I was happy to add the centrifuge into my fuel making operation.

Since then, I have stopped burning WMO, because my engine would still coke its injectors on only 20% WMO-blend in my fuel blend, but I keep using the centrifuge in making my WVO blends, because it is now part of my waste-oil fuel making operation, and it removes enough particulate from my WVO blends to justify keeping it in the loop.

I figure waste oil fuel blends can never be too clean. So, I am now working on a WMO distillation system, and what little distilled WMO I have run through my engine has not posed any problem at all so far. However, I am still developing and testing.

what vehicle where you running this in?

 

[Beyond Biodiesel]

what vehicle where you running this in?

I was running WMO-gasoline blends in an n/a 65.2L Detroit Diesel.

 

[budman67]

Aaahhh, now that makes sense,this is the first I have heard of coking the injectors in
a multi fuel. You are running it in a regular diesel.