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Refine used motor oil?

ratat98

New member
I was reading a few posts on here about filtering WMO, using a centrifuge, etc. and I got to wondering, why not heat the used oil and distill it like they do in a refinery?
SO I googled and came up with this:
Converting Used Motor Oil to Diesel - Bob Is The Oil Guy
Sounds like it could work, but also sounds like it could go BOOM very easily!
Anyone ever done/thought about this before??
 
I don't want to blow myself up nor pay for an unnecessary electric bill.

That tread is 4 years old. The internet has moved on ;)
 

ratat98

New member
Yeah I also wondered how much it costs to heat it up. I kinda figured it would be cheaper just to go get the stuff at the gas station
 
There's a guy doing it on another forum a go to. For every 100 gallons he distills, he gets about 60 back as "diesel" or so he calls it.
 

cbvet

Active member
Feel free to over-complicate what many of us have posted as a simple filtering process.
 

wreckerman893

Possum Connoisseur
My guess is that if the Powers-that-be found out what you were doing they would find some way to shut you down for violating any number of obscure environmental laws.

I would also suppose that your homeowners insurance would take a dim view of a refiinery on your property.

I know diesel is high but there is a reason that more people aren't doing this.

Never be penny wise and pound foolish.

The above being said it might not be a bad idea to be able to do it in case of a dire emergency where you don't have to worry about the rule of law.
 

stampy

Active member
Centrifuges rarely go boom, or draw any ire from HOA or the law and they are cheap to run.[thumbzup]
 

Josh

Active member
At least from the perspective of a multifuel, why turn 100 gallons of useable fuel into 60gallons. For a 5ton or a cucv I could see the reasoning behind this.
 

ratat98

New member
I agree with all of you, I think filtering is better, I just wanted to see if there was anyone on here that did it
 

patracy

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Cracking the oil has been the basis of refining oil since it came into production. I'll just stick to filtering and cutting it with lighter oils/distillates. 700F+ oil vapors is NOT what I want around my house.
 

Attachments

700 degrees is unnecessary, for the purpose of converting oil into diesel you want a temperature range of 482 to 662 degrees Fahrenheit
 

swbradley1

Modertator
Staff member
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
I'm going to try and make gasoline by distilling and cracking WMO I'll let every know how it....BOOM!!!!!
 

needmoretrucks

New member
Wow... it's really not such a big deal... as long as you insure that the reactor you build is airtight there is no issue of exploding. Even then when a few guys have had small leaks no booms have happened. Don't knock it just to knock it.
There is a process fettered to in the thread I posted above called distilling. At a lower temperature you can end up with what's essentially new motor oil, or clean motor oil.
Anyways guys if your interested enough to click on this thread in SS then u ought to check out distilling or cracking wmo and even more exciting turning plastic into liquid fuels. Its even been mentioned that you can turn coal into:beer: liquid fuel with this process.
 

patracy

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Wow... it's really not such a big deal... as long as u insure that the reactor u build is airtight there is no issue of exploding. Even then when a few guys have had small leaks no booms have happened. Don't knock it just to knock it.
There is a process fettered to in the thread I posted above called distilling. At a lower temperature u can end up with what's essentially new motor oil, or clean motor oil.
Anyways guys if your interested enough to click on this thread in SS then u ought to check out distilling or cracking wmo and even more exciting turning plastic into liquid fuels. Its even been mentioned that u can turn coal into:beer: liquid fuel with this process.
So let me get this straight. There's no chance of explosions with this concept?

Isn't the purpose of this to crack the oil into vapors into various distillates?

Gasoline isn't explosive. Gasoline vapor on the other hand...

How does a grease fire happen as well? I mean I could take a bottle of veggie oil and try lighting it until the cows come home. It's not going to light. Heat that same bottle of oil up to the levels we're talking about and put a flame to it, what happens next?

I'm not name calling either. I used to make biodiesel. We had a rig setup to heat the oil. The burner ended up cracking and that made for one HECK of a fire. Nothing was really harmed. But it's those unknowns that will get you every time.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions in the matter. But when you start looking at the factors, it's not something to go into with false pretenses.
 

greenjeepster

New member
Anybody ever try a baffle tank to filter oil? You could even place large magnets on the outside of the tank to help attract the heavy metals. As the oil progresses over the series of baffles it becomes cleaner and cleaner.
 
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