Water seperation from WMO

[randyscycle]

Has anyone found a way or tried to seperate out water from WMO?

I have one 55 gal drum with some emulisified WMO and rainwater that I will have to have hauled as HAZMAT if I can't use it some way. It isn't badly emulisified like a milkshake from being inside an engine, but from the mixing of rainwater that seeped into the barrel making it a tan color and of course unusable as fuel as is.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Barrman]

I have a barrel like that here at work Randy. I was planning to pump it through a water seperator filter into another barrel and see if it gets blacker. I will post results either way once I get around to doing it. Sorry I can't anwer your question better.

 

[hobie237]

Centrifuge is the best way, followed by water separating filters (particularly if they recirculate), with "heat and settle" a distant third.

 

[WillWagner]

If it is emulsified, MAYBE letting it sit a very long time without disturbing it. When oil gets like that, filters go into bypass. It is too gooey to filter out. You could try boiling it...though that could be dangerous..When a truck gets water in the oil and you see the steam comming from the roiad draft tube, that is what is happening, it is being boiled off. The water will vaporize at a lower temp than the oil and, if there is a small amount of water in the oil that's where it goes. You will see signs there before you see it mixed with the oil..emulsified.

 

[dburt]

I always wondered about adding alcohol which absorbs water, such as in products like "Heet" which you add to gas to get rid of water in your gas tank. Would the WMO then work for fuel after straining to get out the dirt??

 

[area52]

If you have a way to heat it up and let it sit while its hot/warm, that will speed up the separation process.

I was in the Navy and we used a steam coil in our waste oil tank to heat it up to about 160 degrees and let it sit for a week or so then drain the bottom junk.

 

[randyscycle]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I was planning on pulling a small amount from the barrel and then playing around with several filter ideas, and seeing how quickly/slowly it will separate.