bbjordan
Snow Monkey
So, what has the Grampulator been up too lately? Well, while tracking down some WMO, I recently came across some stuff that was supposedly "diesel rich". About 1250 liters of stuff. I had to remove it to get to the WMO, which I haven't got to yet...
Anyway, I took a sample of it, and let it sit to see if it would settle out. It kind of smelled like diesel, but looked really cloudy. The jar with the green lid in the pic.
I decided to see if it would burn, by taking a rolled up piece of paper and lighting it on fire. Burn, it did. Rather well actually. Next, I put some in a container and burned that to see if there was any water left over. No water, but it could have burned off.
Next, I took the density of it. It worked out to .851 compared to water. Comparing that to the density of diesel fuel (.832), I figured the stuff contained about 11.5% water...and it wasn't separating. Not with a little heat, and not with a little gasoline added either.
After researching how to separate diesel and water, I learned that separating a water/diesel emulsion is difficult. It looked like I had an emulsion. Maybe that is why I got it and the tote just to remove it.
Then, an article on the use of Water in Diesel Emulsion to reduce NOx emissions caught my eye. The gist of this and other articles which I found was that guys in lab coats were burning these emulsions in ratios of up to 40% water in diesel engines!
My take aways from the studies were:
1) that it's possible
2) optimal results* were using 5-10% water
3) it tended to retard the ignition somewhat
4) it lowered N0x emmisions
* My interpretation of optimal is more torque with lower BSFC (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption) and lower emissions
It was difficult wading through all the studies, some of which were contradictory, but that is what I got out of it, and it makes sense.
Armed with this new knowledge and some biodiesel that I had, I set about to create a fuel mix to try to burn in my 1986 with a 6.9l Naturally Asperated engine. I decided to use a 20% blend of biodiesel with 80% of this emulsion. 20% bio because most diesel vehicles now will take 20% biodiesel, and with 20% bio, you get maximum fuel lubricity. The cetane number of biodiesel is higher than diesel and requires less advance, so hopefully this would counteract the effect of the emulsion retarding the timing as I really didn't want to mess with timing every time I switched fuels. So I took an unfiltered sample of the emulsion and added 20% biodiesel and shook it up and let it sit. The taller jar in the pic.
Immediately, I thought I should have filtered the emulsion first. I was worrying needlessly about filtering tho. The bio worked great at precipitating the crap in the sample. Overnight there was immediate results.
I have noticed before that biodiesel is a great cleaner and tends to be self cleaning too. After using it to clean stuff, I have just let it sit. After a few days/weeks/months the crap just settles out.
So I mixed up a whole drum. This time I did pass it through a 10 micron filter, but it didn't look very much different.
Not something I really wanted to put through my engine with the relatively new Baby Moose injection pump. But, confident that the bio would help clean it up, I added the 20% bio to it and let it settle for a week.
A week later I took a sample and it looked like my test sample: nice and clean. Still cloudy from the emulsified water, but clean, with a nice golden colour. I felt better about putting this through my engine. So, I filled the front tank with 61 liters of the mix and fired it up on rear tank. The engine was already warm when I switched it over to the new fuel in the front tank. I nervously waited for the new fuel to hit the engine...and waited...and waited. Hmmm, no difference. I expected some difference, maybe a stumble or higher or lower idle...nothing. So I decided to take it for a run.
In the box of the truck I had the remnants of an old Elm tree that the recent snow had destroyed which needed to go to the dump. This is a good run because there is a monster hill to climb to get there. I was passing a semi as I accelerated up the hill and noticed black smoke coming out the exhaust. I'm not sure if it was soot getting steam cleaned out of the cylinders, if maybe the timing is out, or if I'm just dumping too much fuel into it, but it ran great!
Later we took the truck out to the in-laws to party, but I shut it down on pump diesel from the rear tank. I didn't want to risk a cold start with the new fuel, especially away from home. When we got home I shut it down still on the new fuel.
Two days later, it fired right up! Woo Hoo!
I also mixed up a barrel of a 10% bio mix. This seemed to have more water come out of suspension. I may try this in the truck, but the truck seems to like the 20% mix.
My observations are that it seemed to run more smoothly, but it's really hard to say. When switching between tanks, I really couldn't tell the difference. It seemed to use more fuel, but I was not testing with a light foot. Hey, it's in the name of science.
I will have a better idea of the mileage when I take a trip out to my folk's farm. It's 4 hours one way and normally takes a little better than 3/4s of the rear tank. That won't be for a few weeks tho. If that works out good, the next test will be in the 1997 7.3 PSD.
I looking forward to putting a turbo on the 6.9. That should clean up that black smoke!
I'm still working on getting my waste oil filtering system going. I have most of the parts, I just need some minor stuff like some 10 gauge wiring, pipe fittings and some hose. I just need more time to put it all together.
If you have read this far, you deserve a medal or something.
Thanks for looking,
Gramps.
Anyway, I took a sample of it, and let it sit to see if it would settle out. It kind of smelled like diesel, but looked really cloudy. The jar with the green lid in the pic.
You must be registered for see images attach
I decided to see if it would burn, by taking a rolled up piece of paper and lighting it on fire. Burn, it did. Rather well actually. Next, I put some in a container and burned that to see if there was any water left over. No water, but it could have burned off.
Next, I took the density of it. It worked out to .851 compared to water. Comparing that to the density of diesel fuel (.832), I figured the stuff contained about 11.5% water...and it wasn't separating. Not with a little heat, and not with a little gasoline added either.
After researching how to separate diesel and water, I learned that separating a water/diesel emulsion is difficult. It looked like I had an emulsion. Maybe that is why I got it and the tote just to remove it.
Then, an article on the use of Water in Diesel Emulsion to reduce NOx emissions caught my eye. The gist of this and other articles which I found was that guys in lab coats were burning these emulsions in ratios of up to 40% water in diesel engines!
My take aways from the studies were:
1) that it's possible
2) optimal results* were using 5-10% water
3) it tended to retard the ignition somewhat
4) it lowered N0x emmisions
* My interpretation of optimal is more torque with lower BSFC (Brake Specific Fuel Consumption) and lower emissions
It was difficult wading through all the studies, some of which were contradictory, but that is what I got out of it, and it makes sense.
Armed with this new knowledge and some biodiesel that I had, I set about to create a fuel mix to try to burn in my 1986 with a 6.9l Naturally Asperated engine. I decided to use a 20% blend of biodiesel with 80% of this emulsion. 20% bio because most diesel vehicles now will take 20% biodiesel, and with 20% bio, you get maximum fuel lubricity. The cetane number of biodiesel is higher than diesel and requires less advance, so hopefully this would counteract the effect of the emulsion retarding the timing as I really didn't want to mess with timing every time I switched fuels. So I took an unfiltered sample of the emulsion and added 20% biodiesel and shook it up and let it sit. The taller jar in the pic.
You must be registered for see images attach
Immediately, I thought I should have filtered the emulsion first. I was worrying needlessly about filtering tho. The bio worked great at precipitating the crap in the sample. Overnight there was immediate results.
You must be registered for see images attach
I have noticed before that biodiesel is a great cleaner and tends to be self cleaning too. After using it to clean stuff, I have just let it sit. After a few days/weeks/months the crap just settles out.
So I mixed up a whole drum. This time I did pass it through a 10 micron filter, but it didn't look very much different.
Not something I really wanted to put through my engine with the relatively new Baby Moose injection pump. But, confident that the bio would help clean it up, I added the 20% bio to it and let it settle for a week.
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
A week later I took a sample and it looked like my test sample: nice and clean. Still cloudy from the emulsified water, but clean, with a nice golden colour. I felt better about putting this through my engine. So, I filled the front tank with 61 liters of the mix and fired it up on rear tank. The engine was already warm when I switched it over to the new fuel in the front tank. I nervously waited for the new fuel to hit the engine...and waited...and waited. Hmmm, no difference. I expected some difference, maybe a stumble or higher or lower idle...nothing. So I decided to take it for a run.
In the box of the truck I had the remnants of an old Elm tree that the recent snow had destroyed which needed to go to the dump. This is a good run because there is a monster hill to climb to get there. I was passing a semi as I accelerated up the hill and noticed black smoke coming out the exhaust. I'm not sure if it was soot getting steam cleaned out of the cylinders, if maybe the timing is out, or if I'm just dumping too much fuel into it, but it ran great!
Later we took the truck out to the in-laws to party, but I shut it down on pump diesel from the rear tank. I didn't want to risk a cold start with the new fuel, especially away from home. When we got home I shut it down still on the new fuel.
Two days later, it fired right up! Woo Hoo!
I also mixed up a barrel of a 10% bio mix. This seemed to have more water come out of suspension. I may try this in the truck, but the truck seems to like the 20% mix.
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
My observations are that it seemed to run more smoothly, but it's really hard to say. When switching between tanks, I really couldn't tell the difference. It seemed to use more fuel, but I was not testing with a light foot. Hey, it's in the name of science.
I will have a better idea of the mileage when I take a trip out to my folk's farm. It's 4 hours one way and normally takes a little better than 3/4s of the rear tank. That won't be for a few weeks tho. If that works out good, the next test will be in the 1997 7.3 PSD.
I looking forward to putting a turbo on the 6.9. That should clean up that black smoke!
I'm still working on getting my waste oil filtering system going. I have most of the parts, I just need some minor stuff like some 10 gauge wiring, pipe fittings and some hose. I just need more time to put it all together.
If you have read this far, you deserve a medal or something.
Thanks for looking,
Gramps.