Sulfo-chlorinated Oil AKA Met-Cut Cutting Oil and Other Machine Oils

[Coyote_Red]

I am starting to think about sources for oils to spin and burn. I my have access to a lot I mean a LOT of waste oil. I work in a machine shop and we dump all of the waste water and oils into an evaporation system when machines leak or things get spilled. this mixture gets pumped into the evaporator and separated into waste water and waste oil tanks. I know a medium size tanker shows up once a week to haul out liquids. To give an idea of our volume of operation we send out a 60 yard dumpster of chips EVERY DAY!

Things that get dumped into the evaporator are everything from cutting oil, spindle oil, way oil, hydraulic oil, quench oil form carbuizing heat treat, and soluble coolant.

My concerns are: 1) coolants won't evaporate and end up in the oil tank 2) acidic or basic corrosion due to pH level 3) synthetic oils won't burn in a waste blend. I plan to set up a centrifuge system to filter the oils after they settle out any solids or water.

Any experiences or things to be concerned about with this fuel source?

 

[G. Mann]

No experience with running your particular collection of oils, so I can't speak with any exact information. However, what you have described is, from the chemical makeup, a witches brew of oils, each with different flash points and "energy yield".

It appears that you have a very professional cutting oil company which has supplied recovery equipment to separate the water/coolant/oil into more or less first purity. From my experience with them [manufacturing background, heavy machine shop and engineering] the company that supplies your cutting materials oil/coolant/etc will pick up the "used" and replace it with "fresh" which is actually "refreshed" and "Re-refined" by them.

All that said: To use the material at hand I would suggest you need to do a chemical analysis of each batch to determine what "mix" of burnable material you have, and if it's flash point is within the operational range of the IDI.. [sorry for going all "engineering" on you, but if you want to be terrific, be specific] Once you have that information, you need to establish what the viscosity of the oil is, how well it atomizes to a droplet size that will support combustion, if it needs to be heated to do that.. etc etc.. also, you will want a good handle on the acid content of the oil and just how that acid reacts under heat with various engine parts... also what chemicals you need to add to neutralize the acid...

On the other hand, you could just try running some and risk a set of nozzles and an injector pump.. a lift pump, etc...

Just a few thoughts out loud... hope it gets you started to finding the answers you seek.

Another thought.. most machining cutting oils are engineered "oil" with a high flash point specifically designed NOT to easily catch fire in high speed machine operations... BTDT.. a machine shop fire is something you do not want.... I suggest you pull the Material Data Safety Sheet on each one... [you shop is required to have them available, [OSHA Rule] Just ask..

 

[Coyote_Red]

Technical talk is fine by me; I am studying mechanical engineering. You are confirming my thoughts on some test I need to do. I still have to see if we are contracted to give it back or not yet. I was just wondering if others knew if it was worth while to go farther than just a thought.

 

[leswhitt]

Technical talk is fine by me; I am studying mechanical engineering. You are confirming my thoughts on some test I need to do. I still have to see if we are contracted to give it back or not yet. I was just wondering if others knew if it was worth while to go farther than just a thought.

Once you know the contract obligations, let us know and we can put some real thought into it. My initial reaction is that once you have the data sheet on each type of substance that goes into the mix, you can look them up and probably get a pretty good idea of what you're working with. Heck, I'll even be the guinea pig and drive over from Buff to pick up some oil and test it out in my Excursion.

 

[Devilish]

I was trying to keep all this a secret while investigating the possibilities as a fuel. 2 things have hindered my progress though, car accidents and my centrifuge building project. My thoughts a while back about mixing water to release impurities is directly to collection of these oils