Hello & some General Questions:

[mohave_steve]

Hey Everyone,

I was quite pleased to find this discussion. I have been looking into filtering and belnding WMO with pump diesel to stretch my driving dollar. Unfortunately there appear to be too many potential pitfalls with regard to resulting fuel quality. It would appear that you all have the solution.

I have no background in the refining process so I have been working to educate myself enough to ask a few intelligent questions.

1) If I understand the process.....Feedstock is heated to 400+C and injected into the column. The feedstock vaporizes and the vapors travel up the column cooling as they go. As they cool the heavier products begin top drop out. Diesel @ 300C, Kerosene @ 200C and Gasoline @ 150C.

If this is correct (please let me know if I misunderstand) and you only have one collection point in the column (placed at the point where the diesel condenses) wouldn't you also be collecting the lighter distilates also?
Wouldn't this result in a fuel with lower lubricity and cetane rating?

2) If the column is vented to the atmosphere how much "nasty stuff" are we actually dumping into the air?

3) How safe or dangerous is the operation of such a still given reasonable care? What are the "key" safety points we should be looking at?

3.5) OK...We are spraying combustable material heated to 400C into an 02 enviroment.... What keeps it from going BOOM?

4) Can a small scale concept still be made to work effectively? One that would produce 3-4 gallons per hour?

Thank you all for sharing your knowlege & experience.

Steve

[mohave_steve]

Hello.....Is anybody out there????:confused:

[Oilguy]

Hey Everyone,

I was quite pleased to find this discussion. I have been looking into filtering and belnding WMO with pump diesel to stretch my driving dollar. Unfortunately there appear to be too many potential pitfalls with regard to resulting fuel quality. It would appear that you all have the solution.

I have no background in the refining process so I have been working to educate myself enough to ask a few intelligent questions.

1) If I understand the process.....Feedstock is heated to 400+C and injected into the column. The feedstock vaporizes and the vapors travel up the column cooling as they go. As they cool the heavier products begin top drop out. Diesel @ 300C, Kerosene @ 200C and Gasoline @ 150C.

Yes.

If this is correct (please let me know if I misunderstand) and you only have one collection point in the column (placed at the point where the diesel condenses) wouldn't you also be collecting the lighter distilates also?
Wouldn't this result in a fuel with lower lubricity and cetane rating?

yes Potentially... I would add a fuel additive just as I do now with pump fuel...

2) If the column is vented to the atmosphere how much "nasty stuff" are we actually dumping into the air?
My plan is to vent it back to the furnace so that any "nasty stuff" gets burned and used to heat the furnace.

3) How safe or dangerous is the operation of such a still given reasonable care? What are the "key" safety points we should be looking at?
Air tight "boiler" and distillation/condensation column. Infact... Air tight collection area until the temp comes down past the smoke point.

3.5) OK...We are spraying combustable material heated to 400C into an 02 enviroment.... What keeps it from going BOOM?
NOOOO!!!! Don't do that!!! It may not explode but you will have a big fire!!
Air tight until the product comes below smoke point.


4) Can a small scale concept still be made to work effectively? One that would produce 3-4 gallons per hour?
Yes. Scaling up may pose some challenges... but if you make a small unit that will produce 3-5 GPH >> I would just make it so that it is automated and walk away and let if run 24/7.
Think about it... $4.50+ Fuel cost means that you can be earning $13.50 - $22.50 per hour.... and you just have to keep it fed!

[mohave_steve]

OilGuy,

Thank you for the reply.

Forgive me I am a little slow on the uptake today :) When we start the process we have a distillation column full of air and we need to have the column vented and an outlet for the waste and the collected distilate.

How do you seal or airtight the process?

On the size question:

How small could you build a practical/functional "proof of concept" processor?

Perhaps a 6" diameter column and use propane and waste gas from the column to fuel it?


Thank you again for sharing your experience & knowledge.

Steve

[Oilguy]

OilGuy,

Thank you for the reply.

Forgive me I am a little slow on the uptake today :) When we start the process we have a distillation column full of air and we need to have the column vented and an outlet for the waste and the collected distilate.

How do you seal or airtight the process?

It will have some air in the unit when you begin... But your heating process is not going to be instant... It will take about 15 minutes or so to get up to temp and the expansion inside the chamber will push out the air while diluting it with the oil vapors >>> Don't forget you are going to have some water evaporation in the process to which will put o2 in the chamber >> But there will only be a small amount so there is nothing to worry about... Plus all of the explosions I have encountered with a unit like these are more like a low bump or thump and burps out the condensor....
I have had many chances to blow this thing up but It hasn't happened yet... LOL>>> I cut down the size of the first processor with a plasma torch after running it on about 5-10 test fires >>> So it had plenty of volatile material in the boiler... I got a cut about half way through one side when it caught and vibrated very loudly and shot a high pressure flame out the pipe connector for the condensing pipe about 6 feet... Very exciting!! AND SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME!!.... SO what did I do?? ... I tried again! :D Yeah >> I am hard headed and guess what >> It happened again but not nearly as bad... so I kept going... The Danger is there but if you are careful and not foolish you should be fine.


On the size question:

How small could you build a practical/functional "proof of concept" processor?

Perhaps a 6" diameter column and use propane and waste gas from the column to fuel it?

It is hard to say... Butter Bean has uploaded a processor that is a very simple build that will give you your proof of concept... Getting a unit built is easy >> Fine tuning it to run consistently is where it gets difficult and pricey.