Veggie Oil Fuel Home Processing Plant - Dewatering

[tyler22mckinney]

How much does your electricity bill run extra for the hot water element and vent fan?

Also what is the shelf life for vegetable oil? don;t know if that's a dumb question.

[smellslikefries]

@tyler22mckinney 12 hrs running a 1kW element+fan to dewater 200L of oil - $1.20.

Shelf life is dependant on water content. Totaly dry oil will keep for years. But normally, expect it to keep for 12 months after this process.

[smellslikefries]

Yes it's still working. No engine rebuilds, or anything.

Darn battery doesn't last in window however. But that's nothing to do with the veggie oil!

[flintrox]

We will see more interest in this as fuel prices go up in the coming years. Pleaseblet me know if your vehicle is still running on cooking oil???? I have a veggie truck. Some problems but would be glad to talk with anyone who has conserns.

[chemo38]

I would suggest you place a lid on your barrel with an emergency release valve on top. I use that in my metal 55 gallon drum and NEVER have any smell or splash ups.

[Gruurk2]

You could look at possibly composting the waste products. I never tried it but it should be possible. Am thinking that you could use an anaerobic system for the composting. If it would work then it would sure beat having to take it back to somewhere to dump it. Of course here we have a city collection of oil for recycling and you could take what you don't want and dump it there as well.

[circusboy90210]

I would to talk to you more about this I have ideas about a processor I am trying to build right now .. need a little help thankx.

[megahosters]

Thanks for the video... I am in the process of collecting my first few barrels of feed stock now before I make my first reaction and made the mistake of pouring a cubie half full of oil and water in to my main storage take. I need to build a system like yours and learn to dewater...

[silverback973]

how does the water leave the barrel once it evaporates?

[smellslikefries]

Guess I didn't make it too clear - the barrel isn't sealed. That's why there's a vent fan on top of the barrel.

[kltheman1]

Are you serious. I think you answered your own question.. it 'EVAPORATES". LOL

[crusso777]

kltheman, the question (by silverback) is valid. Have you ever heard of clouds? They are evaporated water... then what happens? Condensation and water falls back down.

Heating water out of veggie oil doesn't work... boiling it off does, but using a water heater element to heat a big barrel doesn't bring temps high enough to boil off much water. It's not considered "true" dewatering at all. The pan test is very basic & rudimentary. I wouldn't use it as a scientific gauge of any sort.

[dual85]

I read your blog. Your correct about the energy density of the veggie oil when compared to 12,000 Watt-hr. In my humble opinion, lead acid batteries actually ARE pretty great assuming your trip length doesn't exceed 40 - 60 miles. There are people who seldom go further than that. In their case your system is way too complex and just doesn't make sense. You have me on the amount of energy stored. I will not argue that one and never intended to. Sorry for the confusion.

[smellslikefries]

40-60 km is prime electric-car territory, on that I'm 100% agreed. I'd say even upto 120km (60km there, 60km back) you'd like to avoid burning anything.

The ideal situation would be a real diesel- (veggie :)) - electric hybrind like the Chevy Volt. But it's only slated to be gas. Thanks for the posting.

[sgtpepper1138]

gotta love the smart guys at GM, they really amaze me

[dual85]

You should have used that 1000 watts to charge an electrical car.

[smellslikefries]

I'm sorry, but that is horribly wrong and I had to respond to it in my blog.

smellslikefries dot blogspot dot com, posted 2008-04-07.

There is 2000x more energy in that barrel of veggie oil than in 12 hours of 1000 Watts.

[crusso777]

Electric cars are a total waste of energy because of the sad fact that we are still in the dark ages of battery technology. The Prius is such a wasteful sham of a vehicle... if the high-horsed owners only knew how much energy goes into creating and shipping those damn batteries all over the world before it makes it into their cars - they would be more humble while looking at my 25MPG Cummins (giant 4x4) instead of like I'm the anti-christ.

FYI: a Prius gets 17MPG w/ a teenager behind the wheel!

[BigKatz]

Also, a resin barrel would be better than steel. You can get them for free at commercial car-washing places - just ask. And clean them out thoroughly with water. Very thoroughly (don't wanna burn detergents in your engine).

[smellslikefries]

Resin - as in plastic?

[crusso777]

heating a plastic barrel is a no-no. I don't think I have to explain why, do I?

[smellslikefries]

Hehe. Unless you want a big mess on the floor.  :)

[circusboy90210]

@crusso777 depends on the plastic involved, you must raise the liquids temp to 170C the melting point of most plastics is 230c lots of people do it every day , I saw one biodiesel factory (not homebrewer) who uses these , they have about 25 330 ibc containers .

[joebro32]

just an observation, but you seem to be expelling a fair amount of energy to dewater - boiling the oil & running the vent fan in your process. I thought the idea was to put as little green house gases into the atmosphere during the process as possible.

just curious if you considered a passive system where the water separates to the bottom of the tank rather than boiling off? Thereby using less energy

[smellslikefries]

Ottawa is a prodominently powered by HydroElectric - no *direct* GHG costs.

Also consider the GHG costs of cleaning the engine because you didn't de-water. :P

Water can remain suspended in solution in the oil, settling can't seperate it out. A centrifuge or heating the oil you can be sure it's gone. Google for "The Pan Test" for water content in veggie oil. Try that test before and after your settling.

Maybe you don't need to de-water at all - maybe settling doesn't do anything.

[riegirrl]

after my oil is settled, filtered (1-micron), and settled again there doesnt seem to have much water in it. I pan test with no crackling and very little bubbles. (which go away almost immediately) Id like to hear your input. =D

[smellslikefries]

Then I'd say you have a good source for oil.

I'm sure you know all this, but it bears repeating - water is much smaller than 1 micron - so filtering isn't enough.

And water will disolve into oil and some of it will never settle out.

The pan test (put oil in a pan and try to cook it, getting water to boil) is the best test for water in suspension - as far as I know anyways.

[riegirrl]

have you ever had your oil "boil over"? (happened to me once)

[smellslikefries]

Almost. :) My oil never boiled per sae. But I did have it come 1cm from overflowing. Oil expands quite a bit (5% I'd say by volume) from 20C to 110C.

[kmcwhq]

Why are you messing with all this BS when you can use a centrifuge and filter/DW that much oil in 20 minutes????

[smellslikefries]

Centrifuge is the bees knees. Best setup you could ask for.

Centrifuge also costs a heck of a lot more. And if you're the paranoid type - it's more dangerous.

[pearljamfan99]

A centrifuge is only dangerous if not properly installed or maintained. I use a used power steering pump to drive my centrifuge.