Crude oil as fuel for the Deuce?

[goldneagle]

With all the crude oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico I was wondering if it was possible to use it as fuel for the Deuce?

I understand that the sea water would have to be removed and the oil filtered to remove any particles trapped in it.

I was thinking that it would help the environment if it was syphoned out of the water and recycled. It'd free if you want to do the work and have equipment to capture it.

Any intelligent thoughts would be appreciated. i am stressing intelligent! i do not need stupid comments!

 

[datsunaholic]

It was tested back in the day. It works... kind of.

Crude is extremely volatile, acidic, and generally not something you want to run unrefined. And it smells terrible.

Besides, if it was economically feasible to collect it instead of trying to dissipate it or burn it in-situ, they'd be doing it.

 

[markmontana]

... syphoned out of the water and recycled. It'd be free if you want to do the work and have equipment to capture it....

That doesn't sound free to me. Gold is free, too. You just have to find it, mine it & refine it. But it's FREE

 

[4x4 Forever]

Used to work for MSRC at one time in my career.

Most all of the stuff they collect will either be disposed of by burial or incineration. Some might be heated up and then centrifuged, it all depends on the quality of the recovered material. $$$ makes the decision on disposal or cleaning.

When you collect the crude, as they are doing, it will be the consistency of mouse. It is really thick, smells terrible, and will now contain salt. I dont think you want to run salt through your truck.

Good idea and thought though!

 

[phreatdawg]

While I'm far from an expert, I do live in the middle of the Permian Basin oil country. Be very careful with crude oil, they are not all the same. There is light and heavy crude as well as sweet and sour (sweet and sour is determined by sulfur content). Also, some individual wells will have water and sometimes even saltwater mixed with the crude as it is pumped. The common version here is referred to as "West Texas light sweet crude", it is about the same viscosity as diesel fuel and I have known people who ran it in diesel engines, but they knew the source well and were very careful. My 2 cents.

 

[hedelta]

I can sweep some cracking catalyst off of my car. Should help with the refining. Best stuff in the world.

 

[Floridianson]

I worked the tugs and barges offshore in La. and I brought a gal. of crude home to show my two friends. When I came back next month one off them had thought it was good oil and put it in his MG. We drained it out and never thougth about it again. Undistilled crude would be a wrong move for shure.

They call it black gold but the stuff we had was dark green.

 

[wreckerman893]

Just as a mental exercise how hard would it be to set up a home brew refinery to recylcle some of that crude oil that would otherwise end up being burned at a cement factory for heat (I used to work for a company that recycled HAZ Waste into fuel for that purpose).

It would have to be done under the radar, be safe and be done in a rural area.

There had to be simple ways to do this back in the good old days when the oil industry was in it's infancy.

Any petroleum engineers or mad scientists out there.