Hi I would like any iformation I can get on dewatering oil...my pickings here in KY have been pretty slim and a lot of the oil i have found may contain water...I live without electricity and am wondering if there are ways without using electric heaters or pumps to dewater oil?
Sweet Pea

solar heat and then settle.

a lot of info already exsists in this forum about dewatering. not sure how much you will find on dewatering without electricity but, you should start by reading the first four topics. they never move, they are left there for info.

next thing to try is searching this forum. just click "find" at the top. i have found the find feature to be annoying at times, maybe its just me. but, i would suggest you search for "dewatering", "dewatering without electricity", "electricity", "no electricty", "solar dewatering". in other words, every possible word.

if you still need help with the info that you find, post again. im sure someone will try to help.

several folks have stated that they put a barrel up on concrete blocks and build a fire under it for heating.

quote:

several folks have stated that they put a barrel up on concrete blocks and build a fire under it for heating.

Avoid poly barrels if you're going to try this...

thanks for all the help everyone...

There is a significant risk of fire when using open flame to thermally dewater oil. If your barrel gets too hot and boils over you will be sorry. A far safer method is to install the highest wattage hot water tank heating element you can find inside a T shaped fitting passing clear through the top of the T. Thread a piece of pipe into the other side of the T fitting completely covering the heater element. The pipe should be about 6 inches longer than the element. Thread a hosebarb fitting on the bottom of the T. Thread a hosebarb fitting on the end of the pipe that covers the heating element. This is your heater. Wire it up with heavy enough wire to carry the current. Make sure you use something to seal the threads (like teflon tape), you dont want leaks. For reliable drainage, install the the heater vertically, 3-4 inches from the side of your tank. For plumbing details or other info, click my public profile, click private message and enter your phone number. Same goes for anyone facing similar problems. G'bye

maybe you can have oil slowly flow across a hot plate heated by fire. Tilt the plate some horizontaly and vertically so the oil will flow from a spot in one corner toward another corner that is furthest away. Put a drain pipe at the lowers area and plumb some copper line to it to drain away the oil that flowed across. Guess you would have to have a hood over the plate to keep smoke particles out. Will need a way for air and steam to escape though. A good air flow may be needed which will be tricky. How to get air flow but not suck in smoke particles.

Idea would be for plate to be hot enough to get the water to boil off as the oil flows across the hot plate. the air flow will pull away the moisture that rises into the air. Now not so hot that it catches on fire though. That is the tricky part. Another tricky part will be creating a design that does not collect moisture on the hood etc. and drip right back into the oil. Hot plate could be an old skillet?

This idea is loosely simular to some methods I have read about folk on the biodiesel side use to dry their oil. For more on something like this you might try searching the biodiesel side of this board for methods of "drying" or the likes.

Note:
The "water" in wvo is not actually water. It is water AND any soluble material in the wvo. Water soluble things such as acids, salts,protiens, sugars, etc tend to concentrate in any water present in the wvo.

As you attempt to evaporate the water out of wvo most of it will eventually vaporize but there will nearly always be some left since this process tends to concentrate the water soluble contaminants more and more.

Eventually the contaminants raise the boiling/vaporization point of the remaining (heavily contaminated) water to the point it will no longer evaporate at a temp under the flash point of the wvo itself.

This water..and its load of acids, etc. will not be removed by any amount of heat but vacuum will allow a higher percentage to be removed with less energy than simply trying to "boil off" the water.

Danas' right. That's why I advocate water washing after coarse filtration, but before fine filtration. The water will carry off water soluble acids, sugars and salts as well as food particles. Water washing some food particles away will also extend fine filter life. This may add to the overall water content of the oil, but who cares? You can do a titration after water washing and then dry the water thermally. Cornmeal is probably the cheapest absorbant for getting oil anhydrous (100% bone dry).

quote:

can do a titration after water washing and then dry the water thermally. Cornmeal is probably the cheapest absorbant for getting oil anhydrous (100% bone dry).

I have to admit that I have not tried cornmeal to remove water. I cannot imiagine though it would get wvo 100% water free.

And why would you titrate wvo after washing it?
What does that accomplish?

Good points!! I was under the assumption he has already filtered, washed and settled out the junk and suspended water. My hotplate idea is meant to be a LAST STAGE Micro drop water remover.

You want to get REALLLLLLLL FANCY? How about a stream powered or wind powered centrifuge? Use one or the other directly (gears and pullys connected to centrifuge or indirectly (make electricity first and power a motor to run centrifuge)

quote:

Originally posted by welder:
There is a significant risk of fire when using open flame to thermally dewater oil. If your barrel gets too hot and boils over you will be sorry.

Based on my experience, the danger of lighting a fire under a drum of WVO seems to be exagerrated. I have been lighting a fire under my WVO for several months now, the worst that has happened was the WVO overflowing because I filled the drum too much. When it overflow, it did not readily catch fire as one would expect.

Also, I found that you really can't overheat WVO. I have had a fire for several hours on end and the WVO never overheats. It's only boiling.

Having said that, I would acknowledge that this practice is indeed a little dangerous. Use a semi-sealed drum for heating. My drum only has a 3/4 inch openning on top. This allows steam to escape while containing any boiling, steam explosion and others.

I posted a description of my dewatering technique. I use glycerine for fuel.

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/739605551/m/4131057451

Good luck and be careful.


Jojo

JojoJaro

if there are any firefighters or cooks reading this, you just gave them a heart attack.

large automatic fire extigishers are placed at fryers for a reason.

i dont know why your WVO didnt catch fire when it spilled, but one of these days it will.

hot WVO will catch fire. i am going to guess you havent got it hot enough yet.

It seems to burn in a diesel engine just fine... and a few unfortunate people will attest it burns well enough outside the engine to torch cars, houses, shops, and processors.

When I said that there is a significant risk of fire, I knew it was a long shot. BUT if it ever happens it would be REALLY BAD. The only way it would probably happen is because familiarity with danger breeds over confidence. Someone somewhere going to take a leak and returning to find the back yard engulfed in flames could lead to crispy neighbours and more stringent by-law enforcement. In the country , no problem. In the city, very bad idea. Why invite danger?