Vegetable Heating Oil

Some furnaces can be fitted with waste oil adaptors to burn any oil. Apparently used vegatable oil works better (less water), but you also need to be concerned about the oil turning into a solid if it is too cold hence you will probably need to keep it warm somehow like using an engine block heater or residual heat from the furnace itself.

Thank you sbruel and engine block heater is a good idea. I was considering a water heater element

Some restaurants use partially hydrogenated oil which is solid at room temperature. This is more or less "plant lard". It makes fried foods taste less greasy. I avoid that since it can solidify in lines and clog them if it cools. (Clogs arteries, too!) Oil should be liquid at room temp, like soy, corn, sunflower, canola, etc. It can be harvested from restaurants, if you ask the manager and discuss it with him/her. I harvest oil from a local restaurant and have lunch there when I come by for the oil. They give it to me, and I tip very well. The waste oil needs to be filtered to remove "crunchies" and allowed to settle to remove water and fine silt. Water will settle to the bottom. If the oil comes with a lot of breading, it may need filtering and to be washed with water to clean it. To 20 gal of oil, dump in 5 gal of water, mix it up and allow to settle over nite. Draw off the water and froth and discard, filter the oil and let settle again. Filter through a 10 micron or finer mesh filter for boiler fuel. I start with a 150 micron bag for the crunchies, and go progressively finer with 25, 5 and 1 micron bags with settling in between. This is overkill for a residential boiler, but I use it to run my '84 Mercedes 300 turbo diesel.

i run acommercial fishing boat out of rockport ma i have a detroit 6/71 that i have been using wvo in all summer [start up on diesel] i use a heat exchanger t o heat it so far so good although my filtering at home needs to be a little better also use it in my truck i tried 50/50 in my furnace but it smoked and rumbled im thinking maybe a nozzle change [1.25 to a 1.00] are you burning straight in your furnace or mix or heat? bob

aaafish,

I am intent upon burning straight VO in my furnace and some in my utility vehicle (5.9L Cummings). Thought to use a FOX-heater in oil tank

i tried 50/50 in my furnace but it smoked and rumbled I'm thinking maybe a nozzle change [1.25 to a 1.00] are you burning straight in your furnace or mix or heat? bob too.

I am not yet using the oil as am in process of gaining use of oil from restaurant. I don't think WVO mixes well with diesel and plumber says rumble may be eased by adjusting burner air supply.

Thanks for contributing your knowledge

Thank you wcfloyd for contributing your knowledge

You can convert to biodiesel. I am in my second year of this (1500 gallons last year for 3 furnaces) and it works well. While time consuming it can save you a bundle of cash. email me if you have questions

Bob

rlindey,

Thank you for reply, I am interested to use vegetable oils w/o the bio-diesel processing required.

do you make your own bio or get it from supplier

I make my own. I use KOH, MeOH, Heat and WVO.. Sounds like the military doesn't it.

Bob

do you have a recipe for bio that you could share? ive been focused on 100%wvo but im thinking bio would cure alot of my problems at this time any info would be appreciated thanks bob,,,,, from bob

This has I suppose been used for many years. Palm oil mix alum and violently agitate then let settle. Pour into tank and drive vehicle.

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Caution, there are severe hazards using the following material. Be sure to read the MSDS sheets and know what to do if you have an accidental spill and or contact. KOH and NaOH are severe caustic and can cause chemical burns both ny contact and inhalation. Methanol has neurologic hazards as well as risk of exposion and or fire. Methoxide has neurologucal hazards.

Also Biodiesel will eat at most rubber compunds. Be sure to use material that is resistant. Viton is great for seals etc. Poly 55 gallon drums are also good.

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Items you will need.

WVO (waste vegatable oil)

Caustic KOH NaOH

Reaction Vessel ( I use a 55 gallon steel drum, other use old water heaters, etc.)

Methanol

Methanol Mixing vessel (I use 5 gallon bucket)

Heater ( I use a 110 volt water heater element)

Mixer for reation vessel (I use an old fan motor with a long shaft and an impellar I made from scrap Aluminum)

Filter for BioDiesel ( I use a metal case with a 5 micron filter with a pump from an old discardes x-ray tube, pumps are also available via interent)

Process

Obtain quantity of WVO. Filter WVO through a piece of window screen to remove food particles. Titrate to find out how much caustic to use (later in message). In a separate vessel pur 18-10% Methanol, to that add appropriate amount of caustic (NaOH or KOH) (base plus titrated value per liter WVO I use KOH, My base is 6.6 grams per liter WVO). Mix until all caustic is gone, the liquid will be warm to the touch. The final product is called Methoxide. Place the filtered WVO in a essel that can withstand heat up to 200+ degrees F. Warm the WVO to approximately 120 degrees F. While mixing the warm WVO slowly add methoxide. Continue mixing for at least 1 hour after combining, more time is OK. Once mixing is complete let settle, glycerin will fall to the bottom and the BD will be on top. Extract the the BD, filter and use.

Some people wash with water until the water comes out clean. This removes soaps, unused methanol and neutralizes pH. On completely washed dry by bubbling air through the BD for a few days or until soultion becomes uncloudy. I used to d this but it was very time consuming and unwashed seems to burn well in my furnaces.

Go to the web and research methods on this before you begin. If and when you start make small batches, 1-2 liters (see "Dr. Pepper" method). Once confident move on to bigger batches.

Good luck

Bob

rlindey,

Thank you for this informed reply and the severe warnings.

It is my intention to use svo, not change svo into a petroleum look a like. We should be able to use the straight vegetable oil without a highly technical chemical lab. Remember it's use was cutting edge before the petroleum age.

We need retrofit our equipment to use the vegetable oil without employing transesterification techniques upon the fuel.