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Stretch's used oil centrifuge

Reworked LMTV

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side note--- MUST use hot oil.... unless you have a second means of removing water (absorb beads for example)

problem in using these type centrifuges w/out hot oil; and/or without proper venting you lose one of the principles used by these centrifuges to dewater. "Evaporation".

per design (or unintended benefit. not sure which) of these kind of centrifuges..... part of the water removal is in net effect evaporation.... aka. the oil as it is forced out the centrifuge jets.... causes some water to vaporize. This vapor spills out the bottom of the centrifuge along with cleaned oil.... the heat from the catch can (assuming heated oil) encourages the water vapor to rise up along with escaping heat from cleaned oil in catch can below... this pushes that water vapor out of the catch can ifffff you vented it. AKA if you have hot oil..... but no way for some heat; thus water vapor, to escape from area near oil exit at bottom of centrifuge.... your keeping the water you wanted to get rid of. ( a fan sucking or pushing water vapor out from just below centrifuge; where oil exits, might can replace/enhance the rising heat that pushes the vapor out ??)


use to do wvo myself in my unimog and 300sd..... became too hard to get wvo .... has been for decades now....... gave up long time ago... just now getting back into this.. but with wmo.....


plan is later to explore plastic pyrolysis to make crude oil essentially.. then make apparatus for cracking it into a diesel fraction (basically distillation). Other fractions from the process will then be used as fuel to burn/create heat in distillation process etc. Distillation apparatus could also be used to turn cleaned waste motor oil into a diesel fraction.

Im torn though on how to get rid of left over product.... it will be nasty nasty stuff. While running wmo in the blend method with petrol etc. in your engine with out any distillation/cracking ... leaves no visible pollutant gunk to get rid of.. it is still there.. it is- just invisible...... the stuff out your tailpipe will be very nasty stuff puffing into the air.
If you use a stand-alone centrifuge, buy a used Filtermaxx. Much more powerful and flexible than the PA biodiesel. You clock the motor up if you use a 3 phase motor and a motor controller. Steam comes out of vent. Use the sun to bring your oil up to temp before push through heater.

Once you get into fractional distillation, your safety risk goes up exponentially. Low flash point vapors = boom. Alek Polek is one of the DIY experts. Have his plans, but have not made a system yet. All sorts of byproducts. Definitely known carcinogens.

I know Ben Peterson, one of the developers of a plastic to fuel system. Nice guy, knows a lot, but suddenly went from selling plans, to selling units at around $3k.

Diesel is fairly cheap right now. That is, until trouble is deliberately started again in the middle east.
 

coachgeo

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If you use a stand-alone centrifuge, buy a used Filtermaxx. ....
agree.... but not for my long term goal of system get mounted to expedition rig or trailer for medium size batch processing while on the road..... that eliminates potential to use of a more traditional centrifuge such as filtermax design.... off balance a centrifuge of that design and bad things can happen ...... shrapnel producing bad things.
 

Reworked LMTV

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agree.... but not for my long term goal of system get mounted to expedition rig or trailer for medium size batch processing while on the road..... that eliminates potential to use of a more traditional centrifuge such as filtermax design.... off balance a centrifuge of that design and bad things can happen ...... shrapnel producing bad things.
86/
 

Reworked LMTV

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agree.... but not for my long term goal of system get mounted to expedition rig or trailer for medium size batch processing while on the road..... that eliminates potential to use of a more traditional centrifuge such as filtermax design.... off balance a centrifuge of that design and bad things can happen ...... shrapnel producing bad things.
My long-term goal is the same. My refueling depots will be at storage units in a couple of states. Tight control over your fuel should mean better performance and less failures

Hmmm no, never seen an off balanced batch... Filtermaxx have special feet.
Filtermaxx sells a air powered one as well...

Having processed a lot of waste oil, I have noticed a tremendous variance in oil quality. To spin on the run is risky. Why? Every batch has varying levels of impurities. Water, dirt, anti-freeze, etc. Are you doing flash point testing? Some oil requires a second spin. All require a polish at the end to catch anything the centrifuge might miss.
 

coachgeo

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My long-term goal is the same. My refueling depots will be at storage units in a couple of states. Tight control over your fuel should mean better performance and less failures

Hmmm no, never seen an off balanced batch... Filtermaxx have special feet.
Filtermaxx sells a air powered one as well...

Having processed a lot of waste oil, I have noticed a tremendous variance in oil quality. To spin on the run is risky. Why? Every batch has varying levels of impurities. Water, dirt, anti-freeze, etc. Are you doing flash point testing? Some oil requires a second spin. All require a polish at the end to catch anything the centrifuge might miss.
much of the contamination issues eliminated with an acid wash which causes high degree of everything to fall out before spinning it. and acid wash likes to be stirred up which is what will mostly be on road. Plan to use photo processing acetic acid. Though could use other acids. This is essentially what they do to clean waste oil to recycle it to use for making renewed engine oil. will run two cycles thru the spinner and also use absorb beads after that for further water remove. then thru filters as goes into final storage tank (10 /1/0.5) before blend


am blending also. will be an acetone, Petrol blend. then cut with diesel.
 
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Reworked LMTV

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Adding acid to clean the oil can be done. You will need to re-balance the pH pre-processing, or it will eat your centrifuge and ultimately the engine. The TBN number is already diminished in used oil. You could use calcium I suppose. Calculating the pH of oil would be a pita. You can't do it with litmus paper. Sounds like a lot of petro chemistry and work for on the fly.
 

Reworked LMTV

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"The normal pH for diesel fuel is between 5.5 and 8.0, so a reading of below 5.5 is an indicator there could be a problem". pH is a function of TBN or TAN. You can add TBN with a HOT SHOT additive.
 

Reworked LMTV

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There certainly is more than one way to process WMO. It comes down to what is practical, given market price of diesel fuel at that time.

Knowing the source types of oil in WMO can help you manage your process. Same oil, similar vehicles, same change intervals = pretty stable and predictable fuel stock to work with.
 

coachgeo

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"The normal pH for diesel fuel is between 5.5 and 8.0, so a reading of below 5.5 is an indicator there could be a problem". pH is a function of TBN or TAN. You can add TBN with a HOT SHOT additive.
here is an an idea to make it easier to test acidity. just take small sample of oil.... ?? orr final mix?? put some water in it .. quick heat and settle. then measure PH with paper. See last test kit bottom right of below page

 

Reworked LMTV

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here is an an idea to make it easier to test acidity. just take small sample of oil.... ?? orr final mix?? put some water in it .. quick heat and settle. then measure PH with paper. See last test kit bottom right of below page

"Test the pH of the water from your water separator"
What are you using for your water separator ?
 

coachgeo

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"Test the pH of the water from your water separator"
What are you using for your water separator ?
well just for this kind of test I would take a small say one ounce sample from oil before blend (or after since this is called a fuel test?) .... add x amount of water?? quick heat to make it settle.. then measure that water's ph
 
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