[Jguck25]

I have been trying to figure out all the ways that you guys convert WMO into usable fuel.. I am really interested in being able to get motor oil clean enough to mix with diesel. These gas and diesel prices are absolutely killing me and with all the used oil i deal with it would be really worth setting up a cheap and easy filtration system. I would never mix more than say 50% and most of the time even less than that.

So overall, does anyone have a picture of what they have done? i have read a bunch of articles and maybe im just a little slow, but I cant really figure out the best way. I am a much better visual learner. Sorry for adding yet another post about this..

Any thoughts?

 

[W123]

The cheapest and easiest way? I use a modified version of drmillers setup. Cost me $250 and filters to 5 micron absolute. If you want a really nice system then itll cost you a pretty penny.

Heres drmillers:
http://www.thedieselstop.com/forums/f22/pics-my-fancy-pants-processor-system-274198/

 

[nitro3421]

Check out this website. I'm considering buying one of their setups. I'm a complete WMO newbie as well...PA Biodiesel Supply : Waste Vegetable Oil Cleaning : Biodiesel Centrifuge : Motor Oil : Water Removal : WVO Filtering : Dewatering Centrifuge : WMO Filtration Units

 

[drmiller100]

There is more great information on this site
W85 : W85 WMO used in Diesel engines Support

 

[seanR]

I have been toying with the idea very seriously lately, since fuel is $4.29 here.
My buddy owns a "jiffy lube" type place and I can get all the oil I want for $1.25.
But, what do you do about "The Man"?
If I run WMO and K-1, I don't pay road tax and the fuel is not bright green.
$10,000 fine if I recall correctly?

 

[bnjmnalan]

Search Upflow processor and posts by rsr911 for an explanation of that.
This whole setup could be built, pump and all for under $250 depending on your cost for drums and how much extra pipe you buy for trial and error.

You still need a collection pump though. Search SBC pumps for some great working pump ideas for cheap.

 

[drmiller100]

what you are calling 5 micron "absolute" is bull****.

Those are just whole house filters. They leak dirt and crud past them in every test I ever tried.

I really recommend you run it through a QUALITY final filter. What you have is no way sufficient according to my tests.

Will probably work, but you will plug inlet screens, filters, and probably the fuel pump.

 

[tweener]

as for the MAN....check with your states Tax dept.....there is a form you can fill out and pay the road tax on manufactured fuels......If you get stopped and tanks dipped, you show them the receipts of you paying road tax, and they let you go.

I agree on the filter... need better one for your final.

 

[7MAGMIKE]

But you are paying road tax on the fuel you buy both in the 50% D2 and the 15% RUG you mix into the WMO to make W85. So for the roughly 90 Gallons I make I paid tax on 45 gallons of D2 and 6 gallons of RUG. So as far as I am concerned except for my fuel additive I paid road tax. Good enough.

 

[coreyws]

what you are calling 5 micron "absolute" is bull****.

Those are just whole house filters. They leak dirt and crud past them in every test I ever tried.

I really recommend you run it through a QUALITY final filter. What you have is no way sufficient according to my tests.

Will probably work, but you will plug inlet screens, filters, and probably the fuel pump.

What would you call a QUALITY final filter? What do use and where can I get them? Thanks

 

[rsr911]

Here is what I've learned:

That type of absolute rated filter cartridge, if it's the type from McMaster-Carr will work fine ONLY if on the suction side of the pump and only if you wipe out the housing real well when changing them, and only if you pull off the liner on the sticky ends so they seal to the filter housing. On the pressure side you can push past them pretty easily. I have also found that for reasonable prices you can get quality diesel spin on cartridge filters and filter heads, many are absolute rated and changing them is easier. My setup is under overhaul at the moment with the plan of installing a spin on filter as my final filter but retaining my 20" absolute filter. There is no such thing as over filtration in my opinion if your pump can pull through them. PM drmiller or search him out on the W85 yahoo users group and he can point you in the right direction for a quality spin on filter and filter head.

I have also learned that my upflow processor while removing a ton of dirt and free water very easily is almost useless at removing emulsified water. In fact straight settling won't do it either, I've had 375 gallons settling for over a month and it's still milky. Zeolite while pricy will suck the water out, RUG will get it out given enough time, but boiling gets it out no problem. I boiled two drums full today, let them boil for a few hours until the temp finally climbed above 220 and the oil is like it should be, translucent black vs. milkshake previously. I'm using drum band heaters at work but you can bet I'll be setting up a boiling tank at home with a cheap hot water heater element. I plan to boil the oil then put it in my storage tank. Only when it obviously has emulsified water of course.

I really like the upflow for really dirty oil or oil with free water/antifreeze. I'm moving it in front of my storage tank in my process. The process will be as follows:

Collect oil
Pump into garage
Boil if needed (then cool)
Upflow into storage tank.
Pump from storage tank to mix drum prefilled with RUG.
Mix and let settle at least over night.
Recirc 2-3 hours through my filters
Pump through the final filters into my finish storage tank or into my truck.

To do this I've built a 55 gallon drum funnel for the upflow. Just a closed head drum with a hole to put my pump hose in to fill it.

 

[maxtrax]

How do you guys run the oil through the first filter after upflow. I let my oil settle in a big tank until I use it. The I pump off the top and into my funnel on my upflow. The problem that I have is my filter will run about 5 gallons and then stop flowing. I though the problem was with the funnel size (I had a 5 gallon) but I switched that to a 30 gallon and it worked good for a day and now I'm back to step 1. I didn't know if maybe my filter (5 micron) is just plugged or if there is something in the oil that is making the "pores" of the filter to swell shut.

However if I shut the valve before the filter off, let it sit for a day, and then re-open the valve it'll flow another couple gallons. Do I need to up the filter to a 10 micron?

I'm also having trouble pulling through the filters on recirculation. Everyone I'm reading is getting about 1-3gpm. I have two 10" filters in parallel and I can only get 1/2 gpm. Its kinda frustrating that its taking me about 4x as long to get a batch of oil!

 

[bnjmnalan]

Thanks for the heads up about my final filtration. I had just recently (2 days ago) put the filters on the suction side (as shown above), cleaned the filter housings very well and put in new filters. I even removed the liner off the sticky on the 5 micron "bull***" absolute filter. And now I have ordered a 2 micron nominal glass media spin on filter.
I am hoping I can push through this filter at the very end into the truck or is there some reason it must be on the suction side as well??

Thanks again for the help! I'd much rather learn from your testing and mistakes than reinvent it all myself (not that I could if I wanted to). Everything I have done has been after gleaning very usefull information from you on this forum as well as the yahoo W85 forum.

 

[Dredd]

Search Upflow processor and posts by rsr911 for an explanation of that.
This whole setup could be built, pump and all for under $250 depending on your cost for drums and how much extra pipe you buy for trial and error.

You still need a collection pump though. Search SBC pumps for some great working pump ideas for cheap.

Nice post! Seems that everyone is afraid to show good pictures here or something. Lots of eyes on that pic and only one change pointed out so far. I'd say you did pretty well.

 

[drmiller100]

hey, sorry for being a grump.

my pump makes 45 psi MAX and that doesn't seem to push past the string wound filters, and it doesn't push past the filters I'm using.

I tried for a while to use the string wound filters as my ONLY filters, and they would plug my truck filters, and I think they plugged the strainer in my tank, and I think they didn't do my pump any favors.

I dropped the tank, cleaned the screens, put a new fuel pump in, and put a new fuel filter in teh truck.

About the same time I switched to ALWAYS using the same 3 micron nominal quality filter I use. Since then I have about 8,000 miles on the same original fuel filter in the truck with absolutely no problems.

Anyway, the whole house filters are cheap, and easy, and for sure worth having. But I am a believer they MUST be followed by a QUALITY screw on filter to make sure you don't have problems while you are driving around.

 

[maxtrax]

I would still like to circulate using WH filters if possible just as insurance. Ideally I would like to circulate through the WH filters and then after a while pump into another "finished" holding tank. From there I could use drmiller's setup to pump into my truck.

How do you know when your truck filter is plugged? I've run over 100 miles on my first batch and can't tell a difference. Maybe my filter was plugged before but I'm not sure what the symptoms are.

 

[tweener]

I did a bunch of filter research, and found that pretty much the best filters you can find with specifications to back them up, are quality Hydraulic system filters..

Get a filter with a beta rating of 10 or higher at 2 or 3 micron..

Beta ratio of 10 means the filter will miss 1 out of 10 particles 2 micron. (90% eff)

A beta ratio of 2 means it will miss 1 out of 2 particles 2 micron ( 50% efficient)

Quality hydraulic filters publish the beta ratios.

 

[rsr911]

Doug, the absolute filter he was referring to is not string wound. It's an actual absolute rated filter. I do use them and have recommended them in the past but given they cost almost as much as a similar sized spin on and you have to really clean out the WF housing when changing filters I'm finding that the spin on filters make more sense long term. I happened upon some large Baldwin 5 micron absolute diesel fuel filters, still waiting on the filter head to arrive tomorrow so I'll likely give them a try. My experience with Baldwins have been they plug more easily that say a cheap Azone onboard filter which would indicate they are pretty good. My long term plan to to put your filter on the processing equipment and replace my factory filter head with the Baldwin setup. My reasoning is efficiency, my IP is maxed out and I drive the truck hard so a large filter will be far less restrictive and should last longer. When I get to that point I'll likely put a 1 micron string wound in my 20" housing so my filtration will be 10" 5 micron to 10" 5 micron to 20" 1 micron to your spin on 3 micron. Alternately I would put the Baldwin at the end of the chain and your 3 micron on the output of my finished fuel tank. I think that would be my best bet since I should be able to fuel up faster with your larger filter.