Waste peanut oil for fuel

[Ford Mechanic]

I've got a good supply of free waste peanut oil that I want to use in my new M923. I was wondering if anyone else was using the same and what is the proceedure they are using to clean it? I already am using WMO for my M35 and would love to be able to use the same station with just a bit of cleaning and replacing the filters. The oil is coming out of a oil roaster for peanuts.

My existing station is a old well tank with a heater in it and a rack of 5 filters down to 2 microns for cleaning. Using air pressure to push the oil thru the filters.

Is there anything different about filtering waste peanut oil?

Before anyone complains about laws..... I have a blenders license here in NC, so I'm doing it legally.

Pics of my filter station

 

[Beyond Biodiesel]

It is not clear how you are burning your waste oils. Are you burning them straight, heated? Or, straight, unheated? Or, blended with a solvent, such as gasoline?

If you are blending with a solvent, such as gasoline, then there is no need to heat your waste oils for processing. All you have to do is make sure the oil is not gelled, then add gasoline to it, then leave it to settle for 1week for WVO, and 1 month for WMO blends, unless you have a centrifuge, which will shorten the settling time significantly.

Also, CAUTION is needed here, because you are already burning WMO, and now you want to burn WVO. If you combine the two then you can produce glue, which will hopelessly glue your entire fuel system shut. It is best to keep the two waste oil streams completely separate all the way through the engine.

 

[trooper632]

Not 100 percent sure but I don't think you want to run WMO of any kind in a M939 series truck. Those aren't Multi fuels, but straight diesel burning engines

 

[3dAngus]

He said it was for a M35 so he should be OK.

I recall my Dad saying, back in the day, when fuel costs were high and paycheck was low, people used peanut oil for fuel in their Ford Model A's, which are gasoline engines, normally. It smelled a little funny, but it was a great fuel.
If you can use it in a Model A, you can surely use it in a multifuel.

 

[SCSG-G4]

Dell, he said for an M923, not a deuce. Please re-read his first sentence.

 

[3dAngus]

Oops, so he did. I don't know why the M35 in the third sentence stood out. Maybe I'm dyslexic in my old age. Thanks.

 

[Tow4]

I filtered all my oils (peanut, canola, soy, etc.) through string type (5 micron) water filters using either gravity or a small pump. I didn't preheat, I just let the oil settle for as long as possible before filtering and drew the oil about 3 inches off the bottom of the container. As long as you mix it with diesel you should be ok. I never exceeded 50% WVO. I never mixed WVO and WMO.

 

[bigbird1]

Several guys on other forums run 80% wvo and 20% gasoline all the time and even in new Tdi cars. below 0 they run up to 40% gas. I filter mine down to 1 micron gravity feed sock filter. I also mix wvo and wmo and have never seen it turn to glue in over 1500 miles with the same filters.

 

[Beyond Biodiesel]

I too blend at the 80:20 ratio most of the time, but in the winter I add more gasoline to my blends; however, I found that a silicon seal in my IP would swell and fail if I exceeded 30% gasoline in the blend. I found also that it was the alcohol content in US gasoline that causes the seal swelling.

Good to know that you have not bumped into the WMO+WVO glue. I found not all batches of WMO would react with WVO, but some did, and several times, and it was enough of a nightmare, after trying it doggedly for a year, for me to just avoid mixing the 2 for now.

You must have a pretty stable source of relatively clean WMO to blend with for it to not produce glue when blended with WVO. I found it was the overly used, heavily burned, WMO that reacted negatively with WVO. It just so happens that most of the WMO I get is of that variety.

 

[Ford Mechanic]

Hey guys, I'm fixing to sell the M35 and I have a stockpile of cleaned WMO for it already. So I was wanting to clean the processing station thoroughly and repurpose it for waste peanut oil processing to go into my new M923. As I know it cannot handle the WMO. I was questioning the cleaning process for WVO verses WMO.... Is it the same so that I can make use of my old station?

And I take it 50%WVO to diesel is the max ratio to run, correct?


WVO and Waste peanut oil is referred to as the same thing? Just clarifying as peanuts aren't vegetables......

 

[bigbird1]

I know of one gentleman who ran 100% new peanut oil in a case tractor and mowed 30 acres a week when it was cheaper at Sams than diesel fuel. As long as it water free and filtered, I would give it a try in the 8.3 above 50 deg, you may have to add some gasoline as a kicker.

 

[3dAngus]

Any of you guys see that new show on tv about the living in the desert and surviving?
I only saw the first part, but a fella 60 miles from the nearest town, wanted to start a diesel pickup that had not been started in a while, and he and his father thought the diesel fuel in it might have gelled by now.

He got out a bunch of old chicken and foodstuffs and boiled it down, filtered it through a rag. It looked not so clean to me, but he said it was good to go. His dad brought over some Mexican liquor, not wanting to waste the good stuff, which was home brewed moonshine, and mixed the two together. Probably worked, I went to sleep, but I would think this would be a multifuel for a multifuel, not for a pickup. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled program.

 

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Hey guys, I'm fixing to sell the M35 and I have a stockpile of cleaned WMO for it already. So I was wanting to clean the processing station thoroughly and repurpose it for waste peanut oil processing to go into my new M923. As I know it cannot handle the WMO. I was questioning the cleaning process for WVO verses WMO.... Is it the same so that I can make use of my old station?

Theoretically, yes WVO and WMO can be processed in the same way; however, not everyone makes waste oil blends in the same way. I blend with gasoline, not diesel fuel, as my blending agent for a number of reasons:
1] I need half as much gasoline to blend with waste oils as I would if I blended with diesel fuel.
2] Gasoline is more effective at removing water from waste oils than diesel blending is.

Otherwise, if you want to clean your processing equipment to accommodate switching from processing WMO to WVO, or vice versa, then I would recommend rinsing out the processor with gasoline, or diesel fuel, then filter the dirty solvent you use, then blend it with your next batch of fuel, whatever it is.

However, if you are planning on going back-to-back WMO to WVO blends, then it is safer to run the fuel tank down as low as is safe on whatever waste oil you have in it, then fill up with diesel fuel, then run it down as low as you can safely go, then put your next waste oil-blend in to your fuel tank, and you are not likely to bump into the WVO+WMO=glue issue.

And I take it 50%WVO to diesel is the max ratio to run, correct?

Yes, if you are going to blend with diesel fuel, then 50% waste oil is the highest recommended amount.

WVO and Waste peanut oil is referred to as the same thing? Just clarifying as peanuts aren't vegetables......

Yes, Waste peanut oil is WVO, and it is a reasonable WVO to use for fuel using the blending method. The only WVO sources one would want to avoid is "creamy shortening," palm kernel oil, and/or lard, because they all tend to solidify at too high a temperature to make using them practicing in an unheated system, and I have yet to find a solvent that will keep them liquid at even 50F.

 

[Beyond Biodiesel]

Any of you guys see that new show on tv about the living in the desert and surviving?
I only saw the first part, but a fella 60 miles from the nearest town, wanted to start a diesel pickup that had not been started in a while, and he and his father thought the diesel fuel in it might have gelled by now.

He got out a bunch of old chicken and foodstuffs and boiled it down, filtered it through a rag. It looked not so clean to me, but he said it was good to go. His dad brought over some Mexican liquor, not wanting to waste the good stuff, which was home brewed moonshine, and mixed the two together. Probably worked, I went to sleep, but I would think this would be a multifuel for a multifuel, not for a pickup. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled program.

Jack, at Jack's surplus in Tucson told me that he has been farming the diesel fuel out of the fuel tanks on his 40 year old surplus fleet for years, and swears it works just fine, and does not evaporate.

Otherwise blending any kind of alcohol with poorly filtered WVO is surely going to result in long-term damage to any old diesel engine.

 

[Ford Mechanic]

The info has been much appreciated, as I'm getting rid of the M35 I'll be switching out of WMO altogether and going to WVO. The M923 has only ever had diesel and some WVO ran in it so hopefully no issues from that truck. I also need to disassemble my processing station to reseal it so a good cleaning is coming.

Thanks guys! When I start filtering I'll be sure to post up with pics of the final product.

 

[Ford Mechanic]

Quick question, I have been mixing gas into my WVO to separate the stuff out. Been working out real well until last night when I ran into something odd. Well last night I noticed while pumping into my filter station that as I got almost done my hand pump got real stiff and I looked and found gel like stuff coming out of the hose! I had the pick up tube set 8 in from the bottom I thought the gelled stuff would settle to the bottom instead of the top? So I turned the heater on to my filter station for a hour and found a nasty almost gelled crap at the top of the tank where it was bubbling inside (150*F). I checked the drain at the bottom and it was clear seemingly the same good stuff I have been used to. I'm going to check it again this afternoon at the drain. Just looking for some insight about if this is normal or what?

 

[Jeepsinker]

Sounds like one of Bloomberg's worst enemies.... Trans fats...

 

[Beyond Biodiesel]

This sounds interesting. Gelled oils, which we tend to call fats, will generally settle to the bottom, so I am not sure what was floating on the top of your tank. How long do you settle your WVO-gasoline blends for?

Also, heating a gasoline blend to 150F is a really bad idea, because gasoline tends to boil at 160F.

 

[Ford Mechanic]

This sounds interesting. Gelled oils, which we tend to call fats, will generally settle to the bottom, so I am not sure what was floating on the top of your tank. How long do you settle your WVO-gasoline blends for?

Also, heating a gasoline blend to 150F is a really bad idea, because gasoline tends to boil at 160F.

Well that tank had been settling for 3 days, then transfer some to the filter tank and let it settle for a couple more. I had been doing it for a week or longer before transferring it to the filter tank and then a couple days sitting in there before filtering, but I needed 10 more gallons to take with me on a long trip and the stuff had been looking so good coming out of the containers I was rushing this batch a little bit.

But back to the issue, so the stuff is still at the top of the tank and does look like fat now that you mention it. Wish I had a way to dip some out but the top hole is too small. I'll be draining the tank when I get down close to that so pics will have to wait till then. I did drain a quart out from the bottom and it looks as good as it normally does, nice and clear. Maybe this stuff came from my supplier? I'm getting the oil from industrial peanut roasters after so many cycles.


As far as the heating of it, the water heater element in it or the propane burner at the bottom of the tank might not be the best idea huh? I thought possibly heating and then allowing the mix to cool would promote separation faster? I do run my exaust fan in there when it's heating.


I appreciate the input guys!

 

[NeedMoreToys]

This is the setup I use to filter WVO, works great. http://www.vegoilcar.co.uk/wvo_filtering_setup.php