HJ's projects
This is a waste engine oil heater which runs smoke free. A credit to HJ's abilities to use an otherwise unwanted fuel.
How I treat Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) before filling my car tank
Volvo 740 TD
When I collect WVO from restaurants I measure the quantity in litres. I mix 3-5 grams/litre (of WVO) of caustic soda with 10cc/liter (of WVO) of distilled water. When the solution gets clear I pour it in the WVO and mix everything together. I let it sit for at least one week and then I filter it through a cloth (old bed sheet, etc)
I will get soap and food chunks in the cloth and deacidyfied (?) WVO in the drum.
Next step I pour the WVO in another drum with two outlets – one in the bottom and another on the side. This drum has a 70 micron steel mesh filter situated 10cm from the bottom.
The bottom outlets are used to drain the sediment and water.
Another waiting for one more week and then I filter the WVO trough four filters: 70 micron (the one inside the drum), 20, 5 and 1 micron. Everything is done at room temperature to avoid waxes to melting and solidifying later inside the tank.
This is done with an electric pump (220V AC) that also works in reverse which is sometimes useful when the filters get clogged.
It goes to another drum where it is kept until the day it is used.
Another electric pump sucks WVO from this last drum and fills up my car tank.
Some points to pay attention:
1 – I use 3-5 grams/litre of caustic soda depending on the aspect of oil (well used or not)
2 – This is a number I have found in the internet but I can’t assure it is correct. I have tried to measure the final pH but couldn’t find an easy way to do it.
3 – It is necessary to block the fat acids because they attack the metals in the Injection Pump
4 – The more Caustic Soda you use the more soap you get (and less oil…)
5 – The soap can be used (after settling for 6 weeks) to clean the garage floor. It has to be well mixed (electric drill with paint mixer) to saponify all the fats.
6 – You get, always, some sediment in the drums no matter how well you filter the oil. So you can’t get the oil from the bottom of the drum but you should try to get it like above.
7 – The sediment goes back to the first bucket and gets processed again, or it goes to the Waste Mineral Oil (WMO) burner mixed with the WMO.
The oil I get is clear as new uncooked oil as you can see in the following picture:
With this setting I have been driving a Volvo 740 TD (VW engine) for one year and it goes very well with a one tank system, first supplied by Elsbett (in Germany) but changed by me (the heating and filtering of the oil
The Bamford Engine
In February a new engine was purchased, an original Bamford from Uttoxeter, UK. Here is it running.
