I want to experiment with waste motor oil and possibly wvo or biodiesel in the future. Ive collected maybe 10 gallons of used motor oil from cars, trucks and gas generators.
I plan to just settle and filter for now. Later I plan to build a heater and buy a centrifuge to assist the filtering.
What filters have been used? Options? Preferences? What size microns? Where can I pick some up?
I have been using WMO for a few years and really happy with it. Nothing is free though - so yes it can be a pain - but once you get all the kinks worked out it is great.
First off - if you only run 10 gallons you will never go through with it. Simply because one of the most frustrating times is the beginning - when you run W85 it contains detergents from the WMO, this cleans all the varnish, buildup in your tanks & lines and deposits it into your fuel filter. So you need to carry extra filters and some priming diesel as it can plug up at any time. This only last the first 400km or so and then you are back to "normal" filter changes - as long as you clean you fuel properly. But of course it happens at the most inopportune time - not when you are driving in your grubbies already.
The setup. I don't know what kind of space you have - I assume you aren't doing this in your kitchen, if you are then your single or soon to be.
What I would suggest is to do a simple (Cost effective) setup that you can work on refining (ie. sinking more $$ in) later.
When dealing with cleaning WMO gravity & time are your friend, looking back if I was starting over this is what I SHOULD have done.
Get 4 barrels. ( I prefer steel - but plastic has it's benefits - makes a nice sight glass.)
Cut bottom out of one barrel and elevate this at least barrel height
Put a valve in one bung (this is going to be your settling drain mostly for water but some other nasty stuff as well)
Plumb a line with a valve from second bung to a barrel below - this barrel is going to be your UPFLOW barrel
make an upflow barrel filter - benefits, design etc -> google is your friend :0
run line from upflow filter to third barrel via Whole house water filter and a ball valve - use a 5mic filter (inline centrifuge can here later)
Filter setup is complete. cost is minimal.
Now using it....
Fill top barrel and let settle for a week or so, drain off any water, nasty stuff then open valve and let work through the system - slow is better for the upflow filter to work so close ball valve so it just trickles out.
take 4th barrel pour 30 liters of low octane gas in and then fill with your filtered oil. Pump into your vehicle via a 1-2 micron filter.
This works well - you can store, settle and filter your next batch while burning up your first.
Also fits nice into any normal suburban garage
I prefer totes myself and settling oil for a few months.
All this is just my opinion / experience talking - as always YMMV
John