[Eco Taxi]

Hello

First i know depending on the oil your collecting this will vary from case to case but i have a general question

I have been researching filtration and specifically gravity feed CF and have found numerous accounts stating i need to dewater before and other stating that they only filter (rough filter) then CF and they are good

I am looking at the "absolute centrifuge" and the website states no need to dewater

I want to hear your stories - do you strictly filter then CF or do a filter then basic heat and settle to drain the bottom portion of the tank of junk and water before CF

 

[Cashflo]

I'm currently changing my setup. This is how my setup will end up being.
I will start off by pumping/pouring into a barrel through a 600 mesh barrel filter.
Then pump into my dirty 275 tote.
When i got time I will pump from there to another barrel with a 400 mesh filter and 2 heating elements where i heat it for 3 hrs then let it settle from 24hrs-1 week.
Then I pump it to my 30 gallon barrel to gravity feed through a WVO designs inline heater into my Simple Centrifuge.

 

[Eco Taxi]

after heating and settling do you drain any crap off the bottom? e.g. water, food particles, and junk or just pump from the top of this container into your 30 gallon container that leads to your gravity feed cf - btw how do you like your simple centrifuge - im currently looking at that one or absolute cf in my upcoming cf purchase

 

[Cashflo]

i dont have a drain on my settling barrel. I pump from about 8-10 inches from the bottom. This is also were my heating elements are that way they are not cooking in the crap on the bottom.
After a few hundred gallons i dump out the bottom when its getting thick while hot under my elements.

The barrel filters i have i got from dudadiesel. Found him on ebay but he has his own website also now. Any thing under 400 mesh will need to be heated to have a decent flow because they work on gravity.

I have a previous version than what is currently out. Mine has 3 tubes from the feed cone. I get a lot of flour in some of my oil so that has cause some problems with the sediment building up around the tubes and blocking them after only 40-50 gallons. I didnt have enough supply to let it settle longer than 24 hrs and i was pouring too much of the crap fromthe buckets i got.
Changed my methods some. Tripled my sources. And now i dont have that problem any more.

Current design from Simple got rid of the tubes and uses seamless cone so the sediment is distibuted evenly.
They are suppose to have a new design in october. Give Randy a call he is a great guy.

Oh and make sure you have a vent on you gravity container.
I had one thay will go into the settling barrel incase i over filled it. But i didnt put a shut off on the vent and twice i have over filled it it continued to pour out there caving in my barrel.

 

[simone0414]

No matter what centrifuge you have the oil must be heated either before centrifuging or during to dewater. Heat & settle or an inline heater. I prefer the inline heater cause flash heating allows to controlt the temp of the oil better & heat also provides better filtering. So if they are claiming that it will dewater as well as filter then I assume they have inline heater. I know the Raw Power centrifuge does.

I use the Raw power inline heater & am very pleased with it. For a centrifuge I use 2 ACME Juicerators. 1 draining into the other for better filtration & dewatering. I run mine at approx. 10 gallons per hour. For a prefilter I have 2 55 gallon barrels . I pour my oil through window screen & let it settle for a minimum 24 hrs. Longer the better of course. I do not heat the barrels. i have found it not to be necessary. I have drain valves in each approx. 8 inches from the bottom & presently put the oil into 5 gallon buckets & then pour the oil into my holding container mounted above the Juicers & gravity feed into them. I have the infamous Harbour Freight 1 inch clear water pump on order & will be installing that to fill my holding container from my barrels so I don`t have to be filling it by hand.This process produces oil that passes the HPT with no bubbles 90% of the time. If a batch does not pass I re run it. I have never had to make more the 2 passes.

I wouldn`t go to the expense of heating the oil in your prefiltering barrels unless you have problems with dewatering. Inline heating IMHO is the way to go.

 

[vegginpsd]

To the OP:

The largest piece of info I can offer to someone building a CF setup is this: A CF is not a garbage disposal. What I mean is that NO manufacturers rig will run junk and turn it into liquid gold.

Check this out.

CF Pictures - BioFuels Technologies Forum


I firmly believe a small water heater will out perform an inline heater. You need to have some place for the free and suspended water to go. I do not believe in flash drying.

Having run tens of thousands of gallons of WVO, I have never witnessed condensation or steam inside the CF enclosure. (FWIW I have a 1/2" lexan cover". I gues the moral of the story is Garbage in-Garbage out.:nod: What I can tell you is that I have seen many, many gallons of WATER drained off the bottom of the WH......and a collective hundreds of gallons drained off the overhead tank after a high heat (250*) settle.

 

[Jason SVO]

A gravity fed centrifuge will pull water out of the oil, heater or not. Like settling, water and dirt is best removed with hot oil >150*F. Our centrifuge tests well with 5% water or less. Water will be trapped in the bowl and then drained off when the centrifuge stops.
If you have abnormal amounts of water in your oil(like what happens when a collection bin is open to rain) then do some pre-settling of the oil, before running it through any filtering/cleaning system. Pre-settling(with heat) is the commonly accepted way of removing large amounts of water in WVO. There's no other efficient and cost effective way to do it. Water block filters will clog quickly and the least expensive centrifuge that removes large amounts of water is $20k.

Jason J
WVO Designs

 

[Aaron Berk]

I use an inline heater, as well as a heated settling tank (55gal drum with heater element).

I will be converting to a hot water heater set up in another yr.
I think it will preform better, and then also do the vacuum drying.


With my current set up I do a high heat settle, then pump through an inline heater to the CF and it spins out at about 140-160 degrees. And I still see trace amounts of condensation.

 

[muns53]

OP, to make a definitive recommendation, I think we'd have to know all about your oil sources. It's a hasty thing to say one way or another because clearly some folks have a hell of a time getting the water out with or without a CF in their process. But they also may be using PHO, be sucking the oil out of barrels or dumpsters, be getting oil that contains fryer water-rinse, etc.

Personally, I have limited grease shack space and my oil sources don't get any water contamination and I don't use any PHO oil. So, I just settle the cubies for a few weeks and don't use the bottom few inches of the cubie. That's enough for me to get dry oil out of my bowl-type CF 98% of the time. The other 2%, I just run another pass.