are you saying that the WMO strait out of the pan is filtered enough to dump in the fuel tank?

I hope thats not what your saying because injection pump cost alot, I filter my WMO down to 1 micron just to be safe.

 

Let me give this another shot and lets see what happens.


I doubt it very much. Anyone who has those kinds of volumes to sell is probably a regular bulk dealer.. Paying for the oil basically doubles its cost.. You may as well just stick with petrol diesel at that point on your scale.
There are really good ways to collect oil that are very effiecient.. Let me know if you're interested and I can point you to some great informaton on how to do it.

I've made biodiesel from all three.. Well, not very much from peanut oil but I've made thousands of gallons using both corn and cottonseed. Both gel around 40-45 degreesF or so from waste oil, I'd bet you could drop that figure by six to ten degrees if using new oil.. Canola is by far, hands down the king in this category.. (Support your canadian farmer!)
Canola=Canadian Oil Low Acid
Its freeze point is almost god-like in the biodiesel world.. in the teens and twenties for new oil, mid 30's for used oil if its good stuff..


It is ok to make your wash tanks and dry tanks from plastic containers.. The 275 gallon totes you describe are called IBC's and would make very nice wash tanks.. They could also be turned into dry tanks but would not be nearly as efficient operating like that because of their shape.
Please do not use any of these IBC totes as a Reactor.. If you attempt to make biodiesel that way, you are doing yourself, and us as a group, a great dis-service. IBC totes, and any other type of common poly-xx plastic tanks can not take the heat required to process fuel.. Well, I should correct that and say that theoretically, they can, but the processing time required to achieve an acceptable conversion rate at the lower temperatures would be so long, it wouldnt be worth doing... (Think days instead of hours for reaction time)
Ask your chemist friend about the saying "Time-Temperature-Concentration".. Its true for almost all chemical reactions.. In fact, it is anagolus to "Volts-Amps-Resistance" in electrical engineering and "Volume-Pressure-Resistance" in fluid dynamics. All are basic mathematical models that hold true in all normal physics.
Would It save time? Of course it would.. You don't have to collect it.. At those volumes, I think they deliver
The question should be, is it economical at your scale. Short answer is NO and I'm not going to go into why because I'm hear to help you make fuel not financial desicions.

Yup it will..I hope the money you save can buy a new engine.. And if you are selling that fuel, big big problems.
While you can filter out the metal shavings, you can not filter out the dissolved metals without a whole lot of special chemistry.. Yes, metals can dissolve in a liquid and there's a bunch of other stuff in there that will also dissolve and damage your engine.

The best thing you can do with waste motor oil is to burn it for heating..The heating can be anything including your giant sized processor. While electrial heating is very cheap to set up, and ironically, 100% effiecient in heat transfer, it is also very expensive. The best way is to heat air and water with WMO.. When you heat water, you can use that same water to heat both your shop and your process.. in fact, indirect hot water heating is one of the best heating methods you can use..

Another tip for you... I would suggest you start making small batches of fuel yourself.. Get yourself a hotplate (hot plate stiring platforms are nice but pricey).. like me, you can also use a microwave).. Get a scale capable of measuring down to .01 grams minimum.. Preferably .001 but .01 will due fine.

Grab some used peanut oil or something else used and learn to make biodiesel on a laboratory or test size scale.

Use KOH not NaOH (just trust me)..

Have you done any calculations on the pump size and turn-over rates within the tank? Mixing is important.. No mixing, no biodiesel...
What about heat loading? How many btu's do you need to reach proper reaction temperature in a reasonable amount of time?

Do yourself a favor and build an appleseed first.. Learn how and why it works while you save money on fuel.. Then.. when you have an understanding, and you've made 200 gallons of fuel instead of 200 gallons of glop, you'll have a better idea of what's going on.. And if you do make glop, which many newbies do on their first few tries, you only make 20 gallons of glop instead of 200.

If you want to succeed, you have to learn, plan, then do.. Fail at any of the three and the whole thing goes to crap. Mix up the order, the same thing happens.



There are some very good links on my site.. start from the top and go down in that order.. read what you find at biodieselcommunity and you will learn to make biodiesel the correct way and the safe way.

Also, if you do insist on using that tote, please do so in the middle of a field someplace away from buildings and trees.

hope this helps...

 

If you are insistant on going with big batches, 300 gallon batches are the most economical. Go with KOH, and try a school system for your oil. I'd still make my reactor out of steel. Go here for supplies http://www.b100supply.com I got "Girl Mark's" book for $18.00. It covers the basics plus has plans and parts list. Good luck.

 

Huh?

250 gallon batch at 22%meth = 55 gallons even... 1 batch = 1 drum of methanol. You can just mix the methoxide right inside the barrel the methanol came in.. you get a new methoxide tank with each batch

On the other hand, if the guy wants to do 1500 gallons a week then he should just have meth delivered by the tanker truck.. There's a significant price break that way. (significant being a slight understatement)

 

Sorry, I was rounding up. Thanks for the correction. However, I usually do better than 22%. Meth is getting more expensive. 1 Drum per batch is correct though for a "big batch." I make smaller batches and store it.

 

I do it all the time & my Dodge is approaching 300k miles. I usually do pour it from one bucket to another, using a T shirt as a filter. If the oil in the oil pan is so contaminated, then why do those dumb engineers at Cummins put the oil Pickup in the bottom of the pan, with only a metal screen over it?????

I really do not care what someone puts in there vehicle. I have run this stuff along with hydraulic oil & used tranny fluid. I did stop using the used tranny fluid, because I did realize there are plenty of metal particulates in it, as compared to engine oil. The burnt motor oil is just easy money IMO. I have never had a failure using it. My wifes 2006 VW TDI, seems to burn it just fine too. I am building me a system to filter it though using 2 of my big plastic totes.

Mr Murphy thanks for your advice & help. I may be in contact soon. Right now I am working the fire burning up S GA & N FL, & don't have time to fool with any of it. I do appreciate your advice though. I did look at your website & thought I saw a 12 G, 200 gallon, fully automated machine on there. Maybe I saw it somewhere else. Thanks again. Going back to bed for awhile.

 

Hm I just purchased a drum of methanol delivered for 135$. It was 225 last fall

 

Ya I know.. I just found that out the other day.. I got 10 drums last time and the price has fallen back to last years levels..

Looks like "the methanol guys" are on our side because the oil guys would have never lowered the price..

We can all say thank you to Methanex corp for that one..