Filtering Used Vegetable Oil

How about using a strainer to take out the larger particles before attempting to use a finer filter. Many restaurant supply stores have large sieves to strain. These are not colanders as they have too big of a hole (spaghetti). Strainers can actually be very fine and take care of most of the debris. Some are fine screen and others are cone shaped with perforated holes.

I found a fine fabric like chiffon works well as an initial stage and can be scraped off after. For a finer filter you can use your house water filter like you are, or make a filter system that uses toilet paper or paper towel rolls as the filter cartridge. As long as you can wait, the best and easiest way to filter is to just let the junk settle out of the oil.

Charsley99,

Thanks for your reply, I currently strain the rough stuff through window screening. When it get clogged I scoop it into the garbage. I was looking for a filter that I can pump the oil through with my simple diaphram pump, and then easily clean once it gets fouled

Bob

Bob

If you haven't looked at this site yet check it out. http://www.dieselsecret.com/

Maybe something there. Good luck. Making diesel from w/o is on my list for home heating. Stay in touch.

Craig

TD,

Thanks for your reply.

Be careful with Diesel Secret. I have read and heard a lot of bad info about this stuff. Mostly that it is a scam. Have you tried it??

Maiking BD is not that hard if you have time and some mechanical skills.

Bob

Becareful that site has a bug in it

Hello rlindey:

I have not searched yet but, can you tell me what amount of oil you need to filter. I know you say "not large" but, this is a word like 'better' with no specific meaning, you know? Is the oil going to be used again to cook with?

It has been mentioned the best way is to let the particles settle, throw those out, then filter the rest perhaps through muslin? This would work for small amounts as long as you can have a container the same volume as your fryer and put the oil in and leave it in a cupboard or somewhere with a cloth covering it to keep flies and spiders out. That will 'tide you over until you can find the item you have in mind. But, there is a thing called 'diminishing returns', where you can spend lots to get the right thing but, it may well cost more to filter the small amounts you have to do, than it is worth?......Just a thought and, another reason to go along the DIY route?

Babybear,

Last heating season I made about 1500 gallons of biodiesel. I will try to make the same if not more this year depending on how my used oil harvest goes. I filter about 40-80 gallons at a time, 40 being one session of brewing and 80 being obviously 2, (preping for next session ahead of time).

Hello rlindey:

you may find these sites helpful.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLJ_enGB294GB294&q=Filtering+Used+Vegetable+Oil+

We used wire mesh filters on the farm. Try Rural King, Tractor Supply Co. (TSC), or a local fertilizer application service for filters and canisters. The filters are usually stainless steel and reusable. The canisters that the filters go in tend to be plastic with pipe threads. These filters are sold by mesh size. The higher the number, the finer the filter screen.

Since you are already making BD then you are surely aware to watch what kind of plastics to use in your plumbing, filters, and storage. You may want to change the o-ring that comes with your filter canister to one that is compatible with the waste oil. But, you already knew that to.

Thanks, There is a Tractor Supply near me so I will make a visit.

It i amazing how little time it takes for BD to disrupt regular platic and rubber.

Bob

I filter used cooking oil to run as is in my '84 diesel equipped with a Greasecar kit. I get the crunchies out with a 150 micron filter bag. (There are also 100, 75 and 50 micron bags available as well as larger size mesh.)This bag can be fixed over the end of a hose with a clamp or bailing wire. These bags are nylon fiber, I believe. They can be washed and reused and are very tough and durable. Short bags are 18 inches long and long ones are 3 feet long.The bags are inexpensive and can be obtained for about $3 each in quantity. We use them often in the chemical industry.My process then goes thru a 25 micron bag, a 5 micron bag and finally a 1 micron bag before going to the storage tank.

Ever tried back flushing?

Bill,

No I have not. I thought about it but I am not really set up for that. I using regular Culligan 20 micron filters and I am not sure how they would hold up. I suppose I could use some filtered oil to back flush and see what happens. Might be a good weekend project.

Bob

Hi Bob,

Having this problem many moons ago.... I found a 'vibrating separator' company that sells the screens in any number of sizes. They have hand held screens used mostly for quality control and industrial size versions that are mounted onto motorized units that not only separate out the solids but also clean the screen off on a continuous process! The industrial units are a couple thousand $US but for a self cleaning unit with virtually no involvement nor maintenance..... priceless!

http://www.sweco.com/?gclid=CPGV2NzT-ZUCFRKLxwodZnBrEg

This is just the one (many manufactures of similar units) I chose.

Good Luck!

Sensei

An casual acquaintance I met while traveling told me had patented and attempted to commercialize a very simple very high efficiency oil filter for transportation applications. He was unsuccessful and the patent rights lapsed so the information is now in the public domain.

His system. Take a convenient container and fill it with cotton fibers. One or more bags of cotton balls from the drug store will work just fine.

He claimed it was far superior to cartridge filtration but did take a larger container.

Best wishes,

Mr. Gee

A very effective method to remove impurities is to boil the oil with water on the bottom.The oil will separate to the top, and the impurities and water can be drained off of the bottom. I use this method to make soap, and the oil is amazingly clean.

Hello Guest,

I agree, this method does work extremely well. But it depends if the original poster can afford to boil it. And, afford the time needed to let it cool and settle?

Good suggestion though

Thanks for your response

I generally make 144 liter batches of BioDiesel. Water is a nemisis of the transesterification process. Washing and then boiling that much oil would be prohibitive as far as time and energy are concerned, ergo filtering

Ever try using Dripolater coffee filters? Pretty cheap. We used they all the time to filter deep fry cooking oil. It works for the food industry to filter out all the small burnt particles.

I have tried them. The problem is they gunk up too fast.

To all responders

Well I went to Tractor Supply today and purchased a small basket strainer. With a variety of fitting I was able to reduce the input to fit my 12 volt pump system. It looks like the screen can be wiped clean when it gets full of junk. I am going to try it out tomorrow. I will let you know how it works

Bob

Hello rlindey:

you have had lots of choices to make. Keep us informed of what and how you choose to filter your stuff OK?

Out of all the posts I've read here, I still think my nylon filter bags clamped over the end of your hose is simplest, cheapest and easiest. When full, the bags can be turned inside out and contents dumped, bags squeezed to remove remaining residue, shaken to dislodge more and even washed by hand or in the washing machine (better ask the wife about this last part ;-)

So I hooked up the basket filter

And it worked quite well. I filtered about 80 gallons without a hitch. When I was done I checked on the screen and cleaned it with ease. I did use the better quality wvo this time. I will try the lower grade soon to see how long it takes to clog up.

Bob

Hello rlindey:

well done. Looks like you have it sorted?

Glad it worked out. Those can be arranged in series if needed to remove particles from largest to smallest. Or in parallel to increase the volume that can be processed between cleanings.

Hello The Mechanic:

Glad it worked out. Those can be arranged in series if needed to remove particles from largest to smallest. Or in parallel to increase the volume that can be processed between cleanings.

These suggestions make great advice! Well done Mr The Machanic!

Wish I could say it was my own idea. Truth is these arrangements are used all over the place. I guess it's true though. It's only common knowledge if you spread it around.

Bob C in post 32 mentioned hydraulic suction strainers. Basically the same concept as what I suggested. The plastic ones for agricultural use tend to be cheaper and more readily available for the city folk.

Either way you go with this avoid disposable filter cartridges. The mesh filters are easy to clean and last a long time. The most common cause of failure for the filter screen that I have seen is not cleaning when needed. This can allow pressure to build up and deform the screen. That can allow debris to pass through the system. Sometimes the screen can be straightened out and used again. Other times the damage is so severe that the screen has actually stretched and will not seal any more. Replacement screens are cheap. To avoid this place a pressure gage before the filter. Run a batch through a new or clean screen and mark to PSI reading. As you use the filter the reading will increase due to clogging. This same arrangement is used for swimming pool filters.

If you intend to run a bunch of dirty oil and do not wish to stop in the middle then try this arrangement: gage, pipe tee, valve on each out put port of the tee, filter after each valve, check valve after each filter if pumping up hill, hose from each check valve to the tank.

During filtering keep one valve off. When the filter in use begins to clog open the valve for the clean filter. Then close the valve for the dirty filter to isolate it. Now you can clean the dirty filter while the process continues. When the second filter becomes clogged you just flip everything the other way. Just be sure to never have both valves closed at the same time if you are using a positive displacement type pump unless there is a relief valve and all plumbing is rated above the relief valve setting. If this is gravity run then the gage may not do you much good. Just watch the flow rate at the discharge hose and omit the check valves as well.

Hello The Mechanic:

I have not been on since last night/early morning so, have kind of lost the thread of what was discussed, you know, getting old!

My original post was because I thought it was a good idea but,.... knowing where to start? Hence the video. The video has nothing to do with me by the way.

Your idea of the taps etc sound a good one. And once you have the equipment, vats filters and stuff, if a filter is damaged, and you are getting the oil for more or less nothing, the cost of a spare filter or two, in different grades, to filter gradually finer debris, is not going to break the Bank is it?

When it comes down to it, the system is pretty simple and basic and safe if you take care and work in a ventilated garage or similar. You may not make money the first year, or should that be 'save' money the first year but, from there on you are home and dry.

The only thing I would say, (for the benefit of all) is to get organised and don't try and rush the process. It is designed to filter using gravity. The initial pumping to shift dirty oil should be with no filter. Do not force the dirty oil through any filters because, as you say, the filters will fail.

You sound a clever bloke..............Thanks for the post..............

Take care

Thanks.

I am just a farm boy workin' in a small town.

Hey Every one great work. Al tho with all that are filtering what are you doing with the WVO. Lets knock that around for a while and divers the subject.

Truck Driver

I convert it to biodiesel and heat my house with it. I had to make some minor modifications to my furnaces ( I have 2 of the beasts). I had to install new biodiesel resistant fuel pumps, as the seals failed in the original, I installed smaller nozzles running at higher pressure to create a better spray pattern. I had to clean out the tanks as the biodiesel liberates all of the years of gunk in the tank, several filter changes. I also had to learn how to clean the burners as they do tended to "gum" up a bit. I finallygot the systems setup so I could go about 5 weeks between cleaning. Hopefully this year I will improve on that as well.

Thanks to all for your interest.

Bob

Don't know if you saw my blog from a while back, but if your going through the trouble already you might want to look into doing more upfront conversion work and less oil processing. If you really want to eliminate the oil processing filtering part (not something I have done) you can also look into making a babbington design. From what I have heard just put it through a window screen and thats filtered enough.

I have a 1984 Mercedes 300 turbo diesel with a Greasecar kit in it.I filter the wvo, which I get for free from a local restaurant, starting with a 150 micron bag, and ending up with a 1 micron bag. I let it settle a little between filterings, and put it in a 15 gal auxilliary tank in the trunk. I start up on diesel, then toggle to oil when the engine warms up, then back to diesel when I near my destination to purge the lines. I get over 250 miles per gal of diesel fuel courtesy of the cooking oil on the road, overall, 25.5 mpg total. I topped off my diesel tank first of Sept, drove over 2000 miles and am still between 1/2 & 3/4 of the fuel gauge here on Oct 1.I'm set for hard times with 70 gal in a storage tank. I harvest 10-20 gal/week.

I have two suggestions for all of you. The first is hydraulic system suction strainers. Typically they will have male and female pipe threads on one end, and the remainder will be stainless steel screen. It is screwed into the bottom of the reservoir, and the oil is sucked threw it. I will try to get more details tomorrow.

The second is for the creative types out there. www.MSCdirect.com sells stainless steel screening in rolls in varying mesh sizes. Form it into any shape you want.

I didn't read the entire thread so this may have been suggested - Used nylons would be cheap (disposable), high filtration level (100 micron) and the best part is you can shape to any size or profile you wish.

Just a thought (we use to strain out paint for sprayer) - works great!

Thanks,

I might try that

Bob

Probably best to have her remove them first.

Was going to mention that the oil should'nt be hot - but she better be!

I was going to go there as well but judgment got the better of me. Maybe later

Bob

www.davcotec.com/fp382.htm

www.btosports.com/p/CRTOIL

The simplest way is to heat the oil to about 150°. The particles will be forced to the bottom then skim off the clear oil, cool then use a filter. Check Scotts stailess steel reuseables too.