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Hi All,
new to these forums which I've been reading like crazy for the last 2 weeks. Got interested in converting my Delica to WVO after following a converted Isuzu ex-firetruck up the coast which was collecting and treating along the way.
I'm posting my design to get some feedback on strengths and weaknesses, and things I haven't thought of, before pushing on with buying the bits and pieces and making it happen. Exciting project as I take off around Australia in a few months. Long post so appreciate anyone reading it all.
Key criteria are to be able to collect and treat on the road, from a wide quality of oil, and get a good usable fuel consistently. So I've gone down the centrifuge route from reading a lot. Mainly because I don't like the idea of carrying a lot of filters & cartridges, and also I never found anything compelling about dewatering on the road, it seems some people filter to a low micron count but don't dewater. The centrifuge fits the bill for both fine filtering and dewatering in one.
So here it is:
Leo
new to these forums which I've been reading like crazy for the last 2 weeks. Got interested in converting my Delica to WVO after following a converted Isuzu ex-firetruck up the coast which was collecting and treating along the way.
I'm posting my design to get some feedback on strengths and weaknesses, and things I haven't thought of, before pushing on with buying the bits and pieces and making it happen. Exciting project as I take off around Australia in a few months. Long post so appreciate anyone reading it all.
Key criteria are to be able to collect and treat on the road, from a wide quality of oil, and get a good usable fuel consistently. So I've gone down the centrifuge route from reading a lot. Mainly because I don't like the idea of carrying a lot of filters & cartridges, and also I never found anything compelling about dewatering on the road, it seems some people filter to a low micron count but don't dewater. The centrifuge fits the bill for both fine filtering and dewatering in one.
So here it is:
| Overall system: 3 tank system for on the move collection, treatment and use. Tank 1: Current main tank, 75L - for diesel or treated WVO Tank 2: 60+ L tank under rear of vehicle - for WVO Tank 3: 30+ L tank on far side of vehicle - Diesel only for start and stop use Collection: Raw WVO from drums into storage tank through a coarse mesh sieve. Treatment: Option 1: gravity fed centrifuge Centrifuge, gravity fed from a plastic tank mounted on the roofrack. The tank will be filled by a 12V gear pump from the raw storage tank. Still need to find the right spec centrifuge, some gravity ones are very expensive. Heating would be a small low flow spec heater pre-centrifuge, not sure what yet. There is a possibility to do away with the header and connect some sort of positive displacement pump directly to the centrifuge with a relief valve and recirculation. Would have to spec the pump well. Option 2: pressure pumped centrifuge Many centrifuges are designed to be pumped through at high pressure e.g. https://www.scintex.com.au/collectio...oil-centrifuge The price and rating (<0.5 micron) is good. Their kits (pump, gauge, hose, centrifuge) are $1100. Transfer: Centrifuge drain pipe will have a 3-way valve so I can sample each batch before opening the valve to the main tank. This way I can do a HPT on the spot, check colour etc, and then just tip the sample back into the header tank or raw tank. Main Tank - Use: Standard setup for a 2 tank operation, put a secondary filter in somewhere, put 2 FPHEs in (pre-existing filter, pre injector pump). Purge would remain to the main tank, so the small diesel tank only ever gets diesel in it. So lots of fine detail to sort out but that's where I'm headed. The benefit of using a centrifuge (especially if I go a pumped design) is that if I find a good supply of oil with friendly folk, I can treat it on the spot and fill the main tank, then fill the raw tank too. That would give me about 150L of range which is about 1200km without touching the diesel. Another benefit of the centrifuge is I can redirect the outlet back into the raw WVO tank, cycle a few times, and make sure the contents of that raw tank is fairly clean while it sits there before use. Then it still goes through the centrifuge again before into the main tank when it's time to fill. Keen to hear people's advice on this setup. Thanks very much  |
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