WVO (waste vegetable oil) centrifuge:

A centrifuge is a piece of equipment, generally driven by a motor that puts WVO in rotation around a fixed axis, applying a force perpendicular to the axis. The oil entrifuge works using the sedimentation principle, where the centripetal acceleration is used to evenly distribute substances (WVO) of greater and lesser density. Traditional centrifuges use an electric motor to spin a bowl at high RPM and create a force like gravity but up to 3000 times the force of gravity. This speeds up partical and water separation enormously. Separation levels that might take months using only gravity take less than a minute in a centrifuge. And most industrial centrifuges are continuous so dirty WVO can be fed in and clean WVO fuel exits. Most centrifuges must be stopped to remove the accumulated contaminants but some systems are available that allow automated cleaning without stopping the centrifuge.

WVO (waste vegetable oil) Filter:

A gravity or pressure filtration system, the WVO is simply poured into a filter bag placed over a container into which the WVO is collected. These filter bags come in different microns or levels of filtering ability to fit your needs.

Which is better well it all comes down to how much WVO you want to process, how much time you have to spend processing, how much money do you want to spend, and how hard do you want to work.

With WVO Filter system Oil will run through a 100 micron filter bag at 2-5 gallons per minute however, if the oil is dirty or just creamy the flow rate will deteriorate rapidly. Pre-heating the oil helps as does larger/longer filter bags.  My advice is to only use filter bags after settling. This means time waiting for the oil to settle. Cartridge WVO filters, tee strainers ECT, should be used only with heated oil or heating of the filter.Waxy particles in cool oil quickly clog cartridge filters and no amount of pressure will resolve this issue. y mechanical cartridge filter will require an amount of pressure to work finding an appropriate pump plumbing and pressure relief system can be difficult and large spills are possible.

With WVO Centrifuge “Forced Settling” can clean WVO to sub micron levels as well as removing heavier liquid contaminants such as water.  If you are looking at having to deal with hundreds of gallons or more, a centrifuge is your only solution. A WVO centrifuge is required to remove solid and liquid contaminants from the WVO regardless of size. Centrifuges have proven to be quite efficient in the cleaning of waste vegetable oil and reducing the free fatty acids in the pre processing of Biodiesel. They also have proven to remove glycerin during the processing. Contaminant particles as small as 1/10^th of 1 micron are removed, all without the use of a disposable costly filter element. There is no better way to make quality biodiesel quickly. What takes many hours for gravity to separate down a centrifuge can separate instantly in seconds.

How is waste vegetable oil or WVO made into fuel? First all this needs to be done at room temperature 70 degrees F you need sodium hydroxide lye methanol Heet and vegetable oil. You add these three ingredients together in the correct quantities and mix them until they are completely blended. At this point you let the mixture settle it will separate into layers the bottom layer will be glycerin and the top layer will be Biodiesel.

The process above was with clean oil but what about the oils and grease from fryers grills etc. what to do when you have old oil that isn’t very clean. Well at the start of the process you need to filter the oil there are many ways to do this Bag filters are the easiest, cheapest and slowest processing tool that you have other than strait settling to process WVO .il will run through a 100 micron filter bag at 2 to 5 gallons per minute however if the oil is dirty or just creamy the flow rate will deteriorate rapidly. Pre-heating the oil helps as does larger/longer filter bags.Good advice is to only use filter bags after settling.  Cartridge WVO filters, tee strainers ECT, should be used only with heated oil or heating of the filter.  Waxy precipitates in cool oil quickly clog cartridge filters and no amount of pressure will resolve this issue.Reserve cartridge filters for final polishing filtering at transfer into the vehicle or very low volume emergency use.   Any mechanical cartridge filter will require an amount of pressure to work, finding an appropriate pump, plumbing and pressure relief system can be difficult and large spills are possible.

Another way is to use what I call Forced Settling WVO centrifuges can clean WVO to sub micron levels as well as removing heavier liquid contaminants such as water.  If you are looking at having to deal with hundreds of gallons or more, a centrifuge is your only solution.

You probably don’t stop to think about it, but all fuels have a shelf life that depends on their chemical composition and storage conditions. he chemical stability of biodiesel depends on the oil from which it was derived from. Biodiesel from oils that naturally contain the antioxidant tocopherol or vitamin E (e.g., rapeseed oil) remain usable longer than biodiesel from other types of vegetable oils. Stability is noticeably diminished after 10 days and the fuel may be unusable after 2 months. Temperature also affects fuel stability in that excessive temperatures may denature the fuel.

Due to unstable oil price situation in the world market, many countries have been looking for alternative energy to substitute petroleum. Researches on the use of vegetable oils as fuel substitutes in diesel engines have been done in many countries with success.

So can I run my diesel engine on biofuels, the answer is yes, but with that said some vehicles are more readily converted than others?

What makes your one vehicle better for Biofuel than another?

Fuel Pump: The higher viscosity of WVO (waste vegetable oil) is hard on fuel pumps.Stock mechanical fuel pumps are usually tougher than stock electric fuel pumps.Stock electric fuel pumps will most likely fail prematurely from WVO use.

Direct/Indirect Injection: It is widely considered that indirect injection engines are more acceptable to WVO use.  The thinking behind this is that with indirect injection, fuel is injected into a pre-combustion chamber and unspent WVO (waste vegetable oil) would not be directly contaminating (coking) the piston and cylinder walls.  Contamination of cylinder walls and piston rings would lead to blow-by and lubrication oil contamination.   This will most certainly lead to premature engine failure.

Use: Vehicles/engines used for long continuous duration are more suitable for WVO (waste vegetable oil) than one used occasionally for short duration.  Engines should not be started on WVO (waste vegetable oil) and hence, the required purge/shutdown procedure makes short duration use impractical.

It cost less expensive vehicles are inherently more acceptable to modify and have a good risk reward quotient.  Older vehicles typically have less complex and more overdesigned components.

What do in need to convert my vehicle to run on WVO (waste vegetable oil)?

A single tank is an option but while this in the lowest cost conversion it is also the most risky and should be avoided If possible.

A single tank with a heated filter, injector line heaters and fuel coolant heat exchanger is very popular. But the Weakness in this system is in the initial startup cold un burnt WVO will be in contact with cold combustion chamber and cylinder walls.  Ultimately, piston ring contamination and coking will occur and leading to lubrication oil contamination and pre-mature engine failure.

Next is a two tank system that can be manually switched from diesel to biodiesel when your engine is at running temperature what this does is produces higher combustion temperatures and more completely consume the WVO (waste vegetable oil) reducing contamination to the engine? The problem with this system is the drive needs to switch from diesel to biodiesel after the engine gets to operating temperature and switch from biodiesel to diesel and the residual WVO must be consumed leaving only diesel in the engine for the next cold starting. The weakness of this system is making the proper switching waiting until the engine is properly heated and back to diesel without allowing sufficient time for the complete purge of WVO from the engine.

The simplest to use is the two tank system with automated control it is the same as above but electronic sensors and timers control the switching of the diesel to biodiesel and vice versa.

This system provides the highest reliability and is a completely independent WVO system from the stock diesel fuel system.

But now the question a rises is it legal? The only problem with using the waste vegetable oil is that it is not an approved fuel by the EPA. It’s not exactly illegal – it won’t land you in jail, but it could get you fined. Other biofuels, like ethanol and biodiesel, are EPA-approved. They’ve been researched and tested heavily by the EPA and are regulated by the government like any other fuel source. In terms of EPA approval, this means that the ethanol or biodiesel you can buy from a commercial seller is in compliance with the Clean Air Act.

They say the reason you are not suppose to use the waste vegetable oil is that is has not been done long enough to tell if there will be any harm to the environment. And since people get it free from restaurants there is no way to know if it meets the specs of the clean air act which has strict rules as to how fuel is processed. People using waste vegetable oil are just storing it in their garage and filtering and filling up.

And what can the EPA do to you for running your car on what may be the most carbon-neutral fuel source in the whole wide world? It can fine you $32,500 per day. The EPA could also charge you an additional $2,750 for modifying a car to run on a non-EPA-approved fuel.

But I think the main thing is, it is an untaxed fuel. Right now, there is no infrastructure in place to charge tax on it. And in time when they can develop a way to regulate and tax, it will become as legal as diesel or gasoline in the EPA’s eyes.