Up Flow WMO Processor

[bigugh20]

Well I drew the lucky straw and got to stand fire watch over the holiday. Other than roving around every couple of hours and monitoring several cameras and other displays, there isn't anything going on. No one else around. That left a whole lot of time to surf the net for WMO processing ideas. Here is what I came up with. Most of the stuff was free or cheap. I will have to buy the filters and housings, hoses and pumps, but so far I'm out about 30.00.

Stage 1 is a 300gal IBC tote that I got from work for free (they have to pay someone to get rid of them). Also I purchased from the warehouse at work two sock filters that are normally used for water systems. A 100 micron inside of a 5 micron, these cost me less than 4.00 each. This is the initial gathering point and settling tank.

 

[bigugh20]

Stage 2 is basically an up-flow settling tank. I'm usin a 55 gallon drum for the settling tank, the dirty oil is introduced through a down pipe that extends to about 5 in. from the bottom of the tank. I used a 30 gallon drum for the mixing tank/head tank that is mounted upside down on top of the settling tank. The bottom is cut out of the mixing tank, it's basically just a big funnel. I'll mix about 5 gallons of regular unleaded gas in with 25 gallons of WMO. This should do a couple of things. It'll break down the detergents in the oil so that the "dirt" can fall out, it'll also thin the oil. On the bottom of the settling tank, I welded a bung so that I can periodically drain the water and other sediment out that hopefully settles to the bottom.

 

[bigugh20]

So how this will work is...I'll let the oil settle in the IBC tote and draw from the top of it to run through my up flow setup. Off of the small hole in the settling barrel, I installed a valve and will pipe my filters off of that. The idea is that it has to run sloooow. Maybe a 30 gallon batch overnight or slower. This will allow the "settling and separation" to take place. The reason for the down-pipe is to speed up this process, I want the dirty stuff in the bottom of the tank, and the cleaner stuff to rise to the top. I don't see being able to run 2 micron absolute rated filters using gravity, but that can be accomplished when pumping out of my clean tank to use or in a re-circ setup on the clean tank along with another water blocker.

What do you guys think?
-I don't have a problem with it running slow, I should be able to process 30 gallons a day (maybe a little less to allow free board in the mixing tank).
-Also this is basically a set it and leave it operation, low pressure with no hoses or pumps to spring a leak while it's running un-babysitted.
-On the mixture of WMO and gasoline, even though gasoline alone would do the multi-fuel harm, when mixed with WMO it would not act as a solvent, it should thin the oil down more than you could do with deisel alone. The consensus is 15% gas although some are using more like 20%.

 

[obee1kubota]

good idea

Thanks! I stole some of your ideas. I am using a 10 gal air compressor tank/funnel on top of a 300 gallon fuel barrel sitting on its end. I then built a side arm heater connected to my out door wood boiler to heat the settling tank oil to about 150 degrees. That really helps with the flow rate and water removal.The out flow goes through a Goldenrod waterblock filter and then into a 330 gal tote. I am using a GPI oil transfer pump to circulate the oil in the tote through a stainless steel 5 micron cartridge. I have a tee at the out put side of the pump. one side goes to the recirculating filter. the other side goes to another 2 micron waterblock filter and out to my trucks. I have quarter turn ball valves that let me switch from recirculating to fuel delivery.

 

[mhassett]

I had a friend make a 70 gal tank out of an excess piece of 24" pipe, mounted a water separator filter, 10 micron filter, a 2 micron filter. I strain all of the incoming oil with a funnel, and pump out the oil to my duece with my air compressor. 20 psi works fine.
MHassett

 

[islandguydon]

Good Thread, Thanks for posting the pictures and the detailed explanation.

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Very nice Craig! I love the setup!