bio question
 

How does one test to see if a batch of waste oil is worthy of bio processing? I got an OK from a resturant to take their oil but it looked pretty bad. Had small chunks of what looked to be beef fat, and lots of food particles. Of course I pre filter it through a couple of old pillowcases and it smells OK. Just wondering if there is a presumptive test before I take the oil.

Also, what happens if I run out of bio? Can I just fill it with diesel and mix it with the bio still in the tank?

You will need to do more than pre-filter through a pillow case... make sure that you are getting it down to at least 5 microns before putting it in your car. ALSO you need to de-water you fuel prior to using it. You can read up on that in this forum, just search dewatering.

You can do a pan test to make sure that the oil is dry enough for use in your engine. Just heat up a pan until it starts smoking and splash a small amount of your FILTERED DEWATERED fuel into the pan, if it spits at you, there is water in the oil and should be dewatered further.

If you run out of bio you can run on a combination of bio and diesel or just diesel. Read up on blending too, this can be helpful for when the weather gets colder.

:) Karma :)

WVO and bio.
 

I assume you already know this, but Waste Vegetable Oil is not Biodiesel fuel. Almost any WVO can be used to make biodiesel, but your yield may vary based on the quality/cleanliness of the WVO.

Do you have the equipment, materials, and knowledge to make biodiesel from used cooking oil? If not, find someone who does, and partner up with them. Don't risk the well being of your automobile on questionable fuel.

My 2 cents,

SteveM

If you are processing the oil to make biodiesel (the real stuff), pillowcase filter is sufficient prior to processing. Most of any suspended crap will fall into the glycerol layer during the processing. Water is slightly different. You need to get it out or it could screw up the processing.

Real Biodiesel and #2 will blend quite nicely and the percentage of Bio to #2 is what you hear with the Bxx designation. B100 is 100% biodiesel, and B60 is 60% biodiesel and 40% #2.

Once you finish making the biodiesel, even though most of the crap falls into the glycerol layer, you will still need a final filtration.

Real Biodiesel involves methanol and either sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, reacted with VO/WVO at approx 130F. You will not make biodiesel any other way. (I had to add this as a number of sites are trying to confuse biodiesel with blended VO/WVO by calling their mixture 'bio-fuel'.

yes, Im processing it to make BIO-diesel. I would NEVER put straight VO into my beloved benz. Ive read the Lovecraft threads and I respect the many senior members here who have warned against it.

I strain the WVO through a couple of pillowcases into the reaction barrel. I looked into the drum where the resturant puts the oil and it was pretty dirty. I guess Ive been spoiled in my other source. They change it every other day and its honey colored. GREAT STUFF!.

I appreciate your help probear. I guess Ill triple up on the pillowcases and maybe put a few rags on the bottom to filter it pretty well. When I do the calculations for the reactants (methanol and Lye) the dirty stuff might titrate quite a bit higher than the sweet stuff I already get.
WELL SEE. THANKX

Try this.
 

Google (etc) "WVO titration"