Centrifuge vs. Processor

[ah1988ford]

I have a good supply of used veggie oil and I am obviously looking to burn it in the truck. My dilema is idk if I should just filter the oil through centrifuge and call it good or go the extra mile and process it? I read that the centrifuge separated all of the contaminates and the glycerin. It is fairly warm here in fl usually around 90F in the summer so I dont think gelling will be an issue in the summer months. I dont know if filtering out all of the contaminates and glycerin will be enough. Do I need to build a processor and process the oil with the methanol and lye?

 

[AcIdBuRn02ZTS]

Some run straight wvo... I wouldn't see why you would have to process it into bio... but a heated fuel system is practically a must from my understanding when it comes to veggie.

My experience is strictly with wmo so I don't have much insight other then I know of plenty of people running wvo as a fuel source after dewatering and cleaning.

-Chris

 

[Armo]

Aside from good filtration a lot of people like to turn it into bio simply to prevent the possible sludging of the oil (can cause a sort of coagulation of the motor oil)and coking that can happen between the rings.(this is suppossed to be from unburnt veggie slow burning between the rings) Ive also heard the argument its not necessary if your heating the veggie oil well enough. Just remember veggie oil has a higher ignition point then diesel. Im not an expert just wanted to relay a few things i read that maybe you can read up on.

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

Glycerin is a byproduct of the methanol and lye added to the processor. No amount of centrifuge will take it out because it doesn't exist until the chemical reaction happens in the processor. Processing shortens the fatty acid chains that make up the oil so that it is less viscous. Think of it like changing butter to cooking oil. Glycerin is the gooey byproduct of that chemical reaction. You can do it with heat or with chemistry. If you like chemistry you can see the whole reaction here :http://www.goshen.edu/chemistry/biodiesel/chemistry-of/
If not, then don't worry about it and do it with heat. You can burn WVO all day long in Florida as long as it is warm enough for the injector to atomize the fuel. The sludging comes when poor atomization of the fuel causes it to remain in the cylinder post combustion.

 

[Brad S.]

I would agree with shadetree, temp is big thing. Processing wvo is more work than filtering wmo, IMHO.... Just my .02
Also, maybe run a tank full of your "mix" of wvo, then run a tank of "clean" diesel, maybe throw in a little extra additive.
Alternating back & forth might help.

 

[gonecrazyi]

Call me. I'll give ya the run down from when I was running it

 

[ah1988ford]

Call me. I'll give ya the run down from when I was running it

Will do, btw it was the booster lol.

Ok, I have some parts to build the processor for the veggie oil, its just alot of welding and fabrication if I didnt need to.
I read on one of the centrifuge vendors websites that the centrifuge would filter out glycrin, I thought that was kinda wrong that what really made me post this thread. Ok, thanks I think I have the jist of it now.

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

Will do, btw it was the booster lol.

Ok, I have some parts to build the processor for the veggie oil, its just alot of welding and fabrication if I didnt need to.
I read on one of the centrifuge vendors websites that the centrifuge would filter out glycrin, I thought that was kinda wrong that what really made me post this thread. Ok, thanks I think I have the jist of it now.

They may be referring to filtering glycerin out of biodiesel after processing. I bet it would be good at that.

 

[Andertusa]

Glycerin is a byproduct of the methanol and lye added to the processor. No amount of centrifuge will take it out because it doesn't exist until the chemical reaction happens in the processor. Processing shortens the fatty acid chains that make up the oil so that it is less viscous. Think of it like changing butter to cooking oil. Glycerin is the gooey byproduct of that chemical reaction. You can do it with heat or with chemistry. If you like chemistry you can see the whole reaction here :http://www.goshen.edu/chemistry/biodiesel/chemistry-of/
If not, then don't worry about it and do it with heat. You can burn WVO all day long in Florida as long as it is warm enough for the injector to atomize the fuel. The sludging comes when poor atomization of the fuel causes it to remain in the cylinder post combustion.

How might a person remove the glycerin with heat? I was aware of the chemical method( never used it, but knew of it), but this heat one caught me by surprise, is it something like bringing the oil to it's smoke point?

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

I wasn't clear in my post. What I meant was you can use veggie oil as a fuel with either heat or chemistry. Heat would be wvo with fuel heating, chemistry would be biodiesel. Can't remove glycerin with heat as far as I know, though you can remove excess methanol that way which will force the glycerin to precipitate more fully.