used veg oil cheap simple and non-messy filtering ideas?

[pybyr]

What can people please offer for cheap, simple, and non-messy filtering ideas used veg oil (from restaurant fryers)?

I want to do a first pass in bulk to catch any sizeable particles, so that I can then use a much finer filter but have the fine filter last a long time between changes or cleanings?

And how fine should I do for a final filtering?

thanks

Trevor

 

[dakotajeep]

You should try a google search. There are tons of ideas out there. I would go into my setup but I dont think it was the most efficient. But I am sure these guys can steer you in the right direction......

Thad

 

[jasco]

Good luck with the non-messy part. I try to be very careful whenever filtering and transferring WVO, but i still manager to get it on my clothes or spill some on the floor 50% of the time. It is just inherently messy.

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

veggie oil and non-messy do not belong in the same sentence.
Cheapest first pass filter I know of is a pant leg sewed shut at the bottom as a filter bag.
It is, however, messy.

 

[WrickM]

yeah messy is just kinda how it goes. Some rules to help: 1)pouring is messy (always) pump whenever possible. 2) when you decide how you wan to filter spend some time making a filter rig. i.e. don't try to just hold filter bags or have makeshift hoses going to tanks. do it all "permanent" 3)lay newspaper or something absorbent on the ground cuz you're still gonna spill. $) and this one is just my opinion, but always heat the oil. When it's cold filtering WILL be slow, slow, slow and that will cause you to screw something up and make a big mess eventually. Heated oil flows and is predictable. (if you don't have a heated tank in the truck or are just mixing that's fine just filter your oil into something larger and let it cool so anything that will thicken at ambient temps does so in the receptacle and settles to the bottom.

OK there my .02

 

[pybyr]

Thanks for the ideas so far--

how fine- how many microns- do you folks shoot for before it goes in the truck's tank and relies on the OEM fuel filter?

Thanks

 

[Russ]

I always filtered to 10 microns.

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

I have always filtered to 5 microns, but am about to try to put together a centrifuge which should get me down to 2 microns.
I am not particularly worried about stuff less than 5 microns, but the centrifuge also removes all the water with less energy put into heating the oil.

 

[GRU]

i make the biggest damn messes with the stuff. do not think youll be neat about it. but... ive put a few thousand miles on my truck this year so far for free, so it does pay off. it just wont be neat. i evidentally need to change my filtering method. im only getting about 2000 miles per fuel filter before it gets plugged up.

 

[jimraelee]

my procedure for the past 2 years has been... corse spageti strainer over bucket or into bucket... then in a 2nd bucket I had a 10u sock filter hanging about 1/2 out of the bucket... I pour the first bucket into the second bucket sock filter, and allow time to drain thru. To speed up the sock filter time, put the origianal container with WVO in the sun for few hours to heat up.... Oh when puring place some newspaper under each bucket...

 

[leftcoastjeff]

Clean?

I've found a cardboard box floor works to keep the mess down a little.

I've used a vacuum bag with great results (pretty tough paper bag inside a cloth bag)

Heat helps speed up filtering, but you get all the animal fats that congeal at room temps. If your fuel system is heated it won't matter.

From that tank I pump the oil through a 5 mic. water filter, then into clean cubies for storage and settling.

There's a ton of info on the web, many different opinions and some rip-offs.

Blending or 2 tank, they both seem to work.

I'm planning to generate electricity to run our factory.

Good luck staying clean,

OBTW don't use any copper!

LCjeff

PS Don't forget to pay those road taxes

Edit: here is a place with a lot of info
http://www.burnveg.com/forum/index.php

 

[Dirtleg]

As mentioned using a pump is going to reduce the mess significantly. Primarily due to the fact that you are not handling it. Now I haven't made a waste oil filtering station yet but it's coming. My background is chemical processing and I have designed and built a plant on my own before so I can offer maybe a little insight.

My personal collection of parts that I've gathered so far to build my system are this;

Old hot water heater tank. Turned upside down it has a concave bottom that could be used to pour the oil into and act as a funnel in the process. Cutting a 2-3" hole in the center to act as the drain. You could put a fine mesh screen here to catch the inital phase of debris. The tank will have several fittings on it to connect the pump and return line to.

1" diaphragm pump. This is something I have left over from a project and it wil be the primary fluid mover for the system. It is air powered and really good at moving viscous materials. It operates at whatever speed the oil will move so isn't prone to cavitating or burning up an electric motor in the event the oil is too cold. Output pressure is the same as air input pressure.

100 gallon dispensing tank. This is where the prefiltered oil is sent prior to final filtering. This is a tank I found in the bushes at my old house.

Lots of 1" ball valves and pipe fittings.

Parts I still need to collect.

Filters. 1st would be a Y-strainer to put inline before the pump. This will catch the largest stuff. 2nd would be the prefilter. This would be on the pressure side of things. I am planning on using a bag filter. These are available in just about any micron rating you could could want. Plus they have a large capacity before they lose their flow rate. 3rd filter would be another bag filter. This one would be a much finer micron rated filter and would be used on the output prior to the dispensing hose.

The plan would be to pour the oil into the water heater tank then recirculate it through the prefilter for several hours. I may make a heat exchanger to heat it as it's being filtered. Or I may just use heating rods in the side of the tank. After prefiltering was thorough enough I would divert it to the 2nd tank. Then when needed pump it out through the final filter to wherever you are using it.

All pretty simple really. Just a matter of making it a priority which unfortunately I cannot do right now.

Truly the key to being clean is to not handle it more than once if possible.

 

[oly_fab]

Something nobody has mentioned is just let it settle. 90% of the crap will fall to the bottom. You still have to filter and dewater it, but it's a whole lot less junk to deal with. Google "cold upflow" I use this as well as settling in cubies.

Whats left over in the bottom of the cubies you can strain and make biodiesel with.

Stu