Waste Vegetable Oil Fuels

NOTICE - 11/20/05: It has come to my attention that you can die, burn your house down, get hurt real bad, and other nefarious and awful things. I am also aware that some people blindly follow instructions without using common sense, and then sue. This post details a “hacked”, non-standard use, out of code, not mother approved, professional driver on a closed course, application. If you mess with this stuff and don’t understand it, bad things can happen. I will not be party to your death, maiming, etc., so if you can’t figure out that this whole process is dangerous. Please don’t read this or come back. Otherwise enjoy, be safe and happy brewing.

I had a request for a diagram and description of the way we decided to heat our wash tank. This was all Jim’s idea. Props to him. He’s been a great help and might actually benefit from all his efforts if he’d ever find an oil source.
Check out Jim and Steve (Steve sold his soul and his SD) with their biodiesel fueled Mercedes (Jim is on the left and still owns his SD.).

Our wash tank is a standpipe version copied from Graydon’s design that is based off of the one on the Biodiesel Community page. It was winter and we were in my garage. We needed to keep our biodiesel warm so it could be washed. We tried the aquarium heater. It broke, and once almost melted a hole in the barrel. I tried to figure out a wand made from a heating element, but Home Depot was just not talking to me. Finally Jim said why not just use a bung. The answer was obvious to me. Duh!, “We need both bungs.” Then he humbled me with this beautiful solution. Continue reading ‘Wash Tank Heater’

NOTICE - 11/20/05: It has come to my attention that you can die, burn your house down, get hurt real bad, and other nefarious and awful things. I am also aware that some people blindly follow instructions without using common sense, and then sue. This post details a “hacked”, non-standard use, out of code, not mother approved, professional driver on a closed course, application. If you mess with this stuff and don’t understand it, bad things can happen. I will not be party to your death, maiming, etc., so if you can’t figure out that this whole process is dangerous. Please don’t read this or come back. Otherwise enjoy, be safe and happy brewing.

**Note** I started this post almost a year ago and am finally getting around to finishing it and adding the fancy diagram. If the timing seems off, that is why!

After viewing Graydon’s finished wash tank, and seeing his plans I was inspired to copy him. My wash tank is almost the same as his (plans here) but I made a few different modifications. The heated mist wash was one. Automatic mister shutoff was another. Continue reading ‘Heated Mist Wash / Auto Shut Off’

Purpose:

I use waste vegetable oil as my feed stock for my biodiesel making process. I do my best to get the very best oil out there. I don’t waste my time with bad stuff. (Check out the Greasel guys collecting oil DVD if you have a spare $25). It’s a great resource, though a bit spendy, especially for this crowd.) Even with my efforts for good oil there is still a chance for water and food particles. This is my solution so I can be sure that given enough time I won’t end up with any water.

Description:

The setup is three barrels in series. Each of the barrels is set up like a “stand pipe wash tank” with the barrel upside down and the bungs used as drains. The barrels are all set up so that they can be individually isolated in case one of them needs work. The isolation valves also act to drain both the product and the waste. The physics behind the separation is that liquids with different densities will stratify given enough time. Since oil is less dense, it floats on water. Continue reading ‘Stage 1: Gravity Separation’

I have had a few inquiries lately as to how I have my process set up and specifically on a few of the deviations to the standard “appleseed” processor. I have been meaning to do this for some time and think it may take more time then I originally thought. I hope to submit this to the Biodiesel Community page and suggest to them that they include a collection of appleseed variations. I plan to draw a pseudo schematic, take pictures, describe, and then detail the use of each part of the process. I don’t claim that any of these ideas are mine. This is just how I use them. Hopefully this can be of benefit to someone as others input has been to me.

My plan as of now includes these parts:

• Heated Mist Wash with Automatic Shutoff
• Heater for Stand Pipe Wash Tank
• Stage 1: Gravity Separation
• Stage 2: Processor
• Stage 3: Washing
• Stage 4: Drying and Storing

I received a comment question on my More Stable Stand Pipe post that I though was interesting. When I answered, I sort of when off, so I thought I’d include it as a post for all.

Q: May be stupid question - but why does everyone seem to love wash tanks with holes in the bottom? Wouldn’t it be a HECK of a lot [easier and] leak proof (therefore safer) to just have no holes on the bottom and pump your water and biodiesel out of the barrels using pipe or tube inserted from the top? What am I missing? Continue reading ‘Wash Tank Comment Question’