What type waste oil is best? Higher Cetane rating? - Diesel Forum

teester · 06-09-2004, 10:14 PM

We use coconut oil to cook with, which is solid at 75 deg. so it likely wouldn't work well burning it strait. If making Bio-D with it, what would that do for performance? Its catane rating is 75 I think. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]

teester · 06-15-2004, 12:18 AM

I have some info here from BiodieselGear.com They will give you a free biodiesel primer at their site, which was a good help to me. Anyway, here it is:
Canola oil gels at 14 deg F, Cetane is 58.
Corn oil gels at 14, Cn=53
Coconut oil gels at 16, Cn=73!
#2 diesel Cn=47

Their general recomendation is Canola (Rapeseed) oil. It is pretty much the standard in Europe. I have read elsewhere that corn oil is not recommended but I forget why. Hope this helps.

Lobstah · 06-15-2004, 10:47 AM

I'm confused...(yeah...I know...nothing new)

You say it gels at 14deg F? I would think that it would gel at a much higher temp than that...

Lob

teester · 06-15-2004, 02:22 PM

My apologies, that was posted very late or very early however you look at it, just before I went to bed. Anyway, those numbers are for biodiesel made from the oil type mentioned. I was surprized about coconut oil because in the winter when the house is only around 70 deg, the raw oil is pretty solid and hard almost like wax. However when you make bio, it evidently removes whatever it is that makes it that way. Maybe it has a lot of glycerine in it or something.

Defective · 06-17-2004, 09:55 PM

hhhmmm...

What temperature does #2 gel at?

Lobstah · 06-18-2004, 06:12 AM

Good question. I know all the #2 in the Northeast is treated starting around October, and there are any number of fuel additives available that are anti-gel, but I have no idea what the gel temp is.
My wife drives a school bus, and last winter we had a spell where the temps at night were driving down into the 0 to -10 range every night for about 2wks. One morning, half of the fleet wouldn't start...turned out those buses were all fueled from the same source, and for some reason ($$?) the guy had a batch of fuel with NO additives in it, so 23 buses were unable to answer the call [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Lob