Using gelatin to remove impurities?

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

I realize this is the 'General Biodiesel Discussion and it may well be the wrong place to post this as I think it is more of a bio fuel question. Apologies in advance...

I'm new to the topic of bio fuel/bio diesel, and have just watched this video;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZg6hirk9r0
In the video gelatin is used to remove impurities from WVO.
It looks to be simple and inexpensive.
Has anyone tried this method?
Comments?

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

Hi Nigrow, This is the first I have seen /heard of using gelatin to clean used cooking oil. It looks to be a good way to clean small batches of used cooking oil
I prefer to allow the oil to settle and stand for long tine to allow gravity to settle out any particle contamination. The settled oil is filtered thru a 5 micron filter before pouring it into my (non Common rail) diesel engine/ I then blend with about 20% diesel/ Petrol mix (where people put petrol into their diesel tank and have it pumped out). I then drive away and continue without any issues.
I have a number of suppliers (getting difficult with Bioworx and Cookers each trying to corner the market of deep fryer oil) and still get enough oil for my vehicle and home heating fuel needs.
Tony from West Oz

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

Hi Tony,
Thanks for the reply.

Three questions if I may,
I understand that you just allow the oil to sit to allow the particles to settle to the bottom.
How long do you allow it to settle?
Do you not do anything about water that may be in the oil?
Why do some people go to the trouble of adding Methanol and other chemicals to the oil to make biodiesel ( I hope I have this right...still learning about all this) when there are easier/simpler methods like yours?

....from Nth Qld

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

Sorry for the delay in responding, I only check this forum occasionally.


I get about 15 - 20 litres of oil each week, with a quarterly 100L of oil collected from one supplier.

My 2*200L settling tanks thus settle the oil for about 10 - 20 weeks, before flowing into my 200L Drum from which I pump into my 2, 20L filter drums (5 micron filters), draining into 20L chemical drums, ready for refueling my vehicles.



If using the oil for home heating, I just use the settled oil, pumped into 60L oil drums. I use a gear pump to transfer the oil into an oil heating oil tank on the wall of our home.
Check my you tube channel (Tonywestoz) for a couple of videos of the concept burner, initial setup and (soon) the final modification to our solid fuel fire that boosts our solar HWS.

Added 28/6/24: Any water in the oil collection drums, entering the settling tanks, remains at the bottom of the first settling drum, as it ids heavier then the oil.
Tony From West Oz

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

Nigro posted "Why do some people go to the trouble of adding Methanol and other chemicals to the oil to make biodiesel?"

The answer is simple, several reasons influence the process
If you have a Common Rail Diesel, straight cooking oil can polymerise in the injector orifices after shutdown on cooking oil, and this cause poor spray pattern of the injector and un-burnt oil can accumulate on the rings, preventing them from moving in the ring grooves, and resulting in excessive cylinder wear. This may require an engine overhaul to return the engine to satisfactory .
Having a 2 tank system. Using Vegguie oil in one tank and Diesel / Biodiesel in the other. avoid this issue, providing that you are fastidious in purging the veggie oil before each shut down, to ensure that no veggie oil is present in the injectors. at shutdown.
An indirect injection diesel usually have pintle injectors, which are self cleaning and no excessive wear occurs as the oil is sprayed into the pre-combustion chamber, where it starts to burn. Partly burnt fuel enters the main combustion chamber as a fast moving flame front, the additional air in the combustion chamber causes the fuel to explode, pushing the pistons down.
The injector is effectively self cleaning and , while the CRD is more efficient and has lower exhaust emissions, it is not ideal for a single tank veggie oil burner.
Biodiesel can be used in a CRD as it does not polymerise in the injectors or elsewhere in the cylinder.
Tony

[WesleyB Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close WesleyB]

NIGROW; Why add methanol and other chemicals to make biodiesel rather than use 80% vegetable oil + 20% kerosene ? Without doing the math vegetable oil triglyceride fatty acid esters have a molecular mass of about 800 grams per mole , which is about 3 times the molecular weight of a biodiesel molecule . I was able to vacuum distill a little biodiesel . Distilling vegetable oil probably will not work , it would undergo pyrolysis (decomposition). Generally a lower molecular weight hydrocarbon is easier to put as a mist or vapor in the combustion chamber of a motor . Making biodiesel cuts the vegetable oil molecules into 3 pieces , plus glycerine . I think it burns better being a lower molecular weight hydrocarbon .