YEH! I did it SVO 100%Palm oil

[Tom Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tom]

Thanks everyone, Ive done it, (for now anyway its not winter).
1 x Landcruiser 60 series
2 x tanks 1x 80L diesel ,1 x130L svo tank
6m of SS heating pipe in svo tank.
1 xheater ex
heaps of insulation.
The tank is a little slow to heat ,130L was a little ambitious, but once the palm oil is runny the pump picks it up runs it along the heater hose through a filter to the heat ex. Enters the IP at 60 C .
I put a 240v aquarime heater in the tank to speed things up.
Thanks again

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: YEH! I did it SVO 100%Palm oil

Well done,
How does she go from a cold start? How long before you can start drawing melted oil?
The next test is the coldest morning of next winter. That will prove your conversion methods.

Keep up the good work, and please post photos of your conversion.

Tony

[W123 x 2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close W123 x 2]

Re: YEH! I did it SVO 100%Palm oil

Yes, well done Tom and keep us posted. How do you insert and extract the 240 volt aquarium heater? Or is in the tank permanently, and if so how?

Cheers, Michael

[Tom Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tom]

Re: YEH! I did it SVO 100%Palm oil

The aquarium heater was an after thought, lucky it fitted down the neck of the filling hose. It probably rolls around in there but so far so good.
The cables come out of a hole before the fuel cap, sealed with the hi temp silastic. The cables lead to a control panel fitted inside the car near the tail gate.
The heater is 500 watts and made of titanium (I hope it dosnt react) , it cost $70. It has a probe which I fitted to the outside bottom of the tank and is set at 38C. The tank is insulated with 13mm silver lined foam.
Without the electric heater it takes 30 min of 100km/h driving , thats halfway to work for me.
Thats with the tank full. I plan to keep only 40 L in it at a time for normal use which I hope will reduce the delay.
The palm oil has been a real challange ,Im trying to find a diaphram fuel pump that can pump a slurry consistancy, once its pumping I can get it to the heat exchanger no worries.

I could take photos but with everything wrapped in insulation theres not much to see.
Thanks again everyone, thanks Tony for the heat ex

[areba Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close areba]

Re: YEH! I did it SVO 100%Palm oil

just so i understand, is this to mean that with oil palm as SVO all you need to deal with is viscousity? (assuming everything else is clean),

[craigcurtin Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigcurtin]

Re: YEH! I did it SVO 100%Palm oil

Tom,

If you want a reliable pump for this slurry then i can highly recommend one of the mallory gerotor pumps - either a 4140 or a 4250 would hit it nicely.

Also have you thought about a small sub tank for a first run tank - something around 5 litres or so ? You could fill that with Palm oil and have your aquarium heater in there ? Should melt it really quickly ( i take it you have an onboard 240v alternator ?) also note if you do not have a true Sine wave alternator this will not be driving the aquarium pump at full cycle but will be chopping the Sine waves and probably only driving it at 1/2 duty cycle ?

Or what about a 25 litre plastic drum with the heater in it - leave in the house at night plugged in and drag it out heated in the morning ready to go ?) a couple of quick connects ? - put the aquarium heater in there - take it in the office at work and plug it in when you get there and ready for the start of the trip home ? A manual ball valve in the back of the car to switch between it and the main tank - once the main tank was upto temp you could switch across to it.

Say if you had a 25 litre cubie - use 1/2 on the trip to work and 1/2 on the trip home - might work a little better and get you onto palm oil quicker - also solve your winter issues - the quicker change onto palm oil would pay for a small aquarium heater pretty quickly.

Craig

[cuppatea Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close cuppatea]

Re: YEH! I did it SVO 100%Palm oil

That is a great idea there. Leave it plugged in at home/work to keep it warm. Maybe even an aux battery with a proper charging system to keep things warm during the day. A mate of mine bought a real fancy charger from Jaycar I think. Programmable unit charges in both directions between batteries in the car/caravan.

[Johnnojack Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Johnnojack]

Re: YEH! I did it SVO 100%Palm oil

Not wanting to hijack the thread but it does have Palm Oil in the heading. If your supplier is using Palm oil it would be worth asking them why they chose it other oils. No doubt most of us are aware of the rainforest and Orangutan habitat destruction that Palm oil production is responsible for. If not just Google Palm Oil and Orangutan. While I am sure it is a perfectly good product it is the production of it which is highly questionable. I suspect they may be using because it is cheaper than alternative oils, or they maybe just don't give a sh*t. I am sure in this country we can do better than encourage its use.

About Palm Oil

[Tim-HJ61 Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tim-HJ61]

Re: YEH! I did it SVO 100%Palm oil

I agree Johnno,
But the thread was started in 2007 and Tom hasn't posted since 2008.

In his very first posting he justified his position:

Has anyone, apart from orangutans, had bad experiences with hydrogenated palm oil?
I plan to use this WVO in a SVO system. I wouldnt buy it new due to the rainforrest issues, but making the most of the waste product seems to reduce its enviromental impact not increase it.

Tim

[Johnnojack Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Johnnojack]

Re: YEH! I did it SVO 100%Palm oil

Fair enough Tim I didn't notice the old date.
I have been getting some drums of oil which do not specify exactly what oil is in the drum, just saying it is 100% vegetable oil. Sometimes they used to say contains Soy oil but now just vegetable oil, I wonder what is in it. Just another instance of our inadequate food labelling laws.