Separating water from oil without a heat source?

[4x4 Forever]

The protein foam was some of the nastiest, smelliest stuff you ever came across. Did it work, yes...but man oh man...It still brings the contents of my stomach to my throat just thinking about it...

Gravity is your best friend and mixing RUG works like a charm.

 

[Beyond Biodiesel]

If you spend enough time blending gasoline with waste oils, and give that blend enough time for settling to take place, and give yourself a way to easily remove the sediments, and inspect them, then you will find water, whether it has salt in it or not, will readily settle out within hours to days from water contaminated waste oils.

But, thanks, Tplane37, that was a really interesting factoid about using pig's blood and sea water as a fire extinguisher, which I did not know about. I am an archaeologist by trade, so I am part of how the archaeological record gets interpreted, and I can imagine an archaeologist, who did not know about this fire fight practice would interpret the presents of an abundance of pig's blood on an excavated burned wreck might interpret it as a boat hauling pigs.

Another related factoid is the reason why American barns are red, or used to be, is because, before paint companies, farmers made their own paint by blending cow blood with cow milk, which makes a polymer-like substance that protects wood, so it was painted on to barns to protect them during the US colonial period.

 

[JOECOOL48]

Polymer beads

The method I use to get the water out of diesel fuel, used oil and transmission fluid is to make a pouch out of cloth, place a 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of polymer beads that absorb water. You can buy them at Walmart in the craft section They are sold to place in vases to hold cut flowers. Some of the names they are sold by are "Jelly Marbles, ".FloraCraft Dehydrated Water Beads". They are about the size of a small BBs (3mm) but swell up to the size of a marble(20mm). I first used them when I got hold of some contaminated diesel fuel in my tractor. I made a sack out of net material placed the water beads in it and sewed the open end shut. I used a length of wire secured to the pouch and lowered it to the bottom of my tank. To my surprise, it worked. THE BEADS DO NOT ABSORB FUEL OR OILS ONLY THE WATER. I have since refined my methods. For small, hard to reach places(my Deuce fuel tank), I add beads to a baby sock, secure the top with stainless steel wire and then secure another length of wire to lower and raise it. For removing water from waste oil and ATF, I use a regular man's sock and my net pouches. As the water settles to the bottom it is soaked up by the beads. When the beads look like they have as much water as they can hold, I take them out, slosh them in a small container diesel fuel to clean the burnt oil off and hang them in a dry place. Over a period of time the water will evaporate and they are ready to use again. Important..1. make sure the opening in the cloth is really secured to avoid beads from leaking out. One lose bead could plug up a fuel line. 2. Use new socks so you know there are no holes or double sock them. 3. Don't use the powdered polymers known as Terrasorb that is used to dip pine trees in when planting or "water crystals" or "water cubes" ( when they absorb water, little corners will break off and when they dry they might work their way through the fabric.. Use the clear, small BB size or larger beads. Disclaimer: They work for me but be careful not to let any escape in a fuel tank. In waste oil I also place a magnet wrapped in plastic and suspended with a wire in the waste oil to help remove small ferrous metal particles. Wrapping the magnet in a plastic zip lock bag makes removing the metal particles easy. The photo of the see through netting is of water I removed from the bottom of a bucket of ATF that got left out in the rain.
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[FireFighterHill]

Great idea Joe!

 

[Tplane37]

Re: Separating water from oil with out a heat source?

Joe, I just picked up a partial barrel of used oil today. I don't have anything else set up, so I think I am going to give this a try. If it works as you say (I see no reason why it wouldn't) then a couple of pre-filled socks would be a good thing to throw in the tool kit for the truck... Even for pump diesel. How fast does it work, and does the water have to be settled out first?

 

[JOECOOL48]

Joe, I just picked up a partial barrel of used oil today. I don't have anything else set up, so I think I am going to give this a try. If it works as you say (I see no reason why it wouldn't) then a couple of pre-filled socks would be a good thing to throw in the tool kit for the truck... Even for pump diesel. How fast does it work, and does the water have to be settled out first?

They don't work exactly like a desiccant , so I am not sure it would suck suspended water out of the oil like silica gel takes moisture out of the air.. I make sure that I tilt the barrel or can so that there is a low point, and make sure I place the sock is in this low spot. When I am not using my tractor or deuce I park them so that there is a low point in the fuel tank and place a small bag suspended by wire in the tanks. To make sure I don't accidentally crank one of them up without removing the bag, I have one of those red "remove before flight" streamers that I attach to the steering wheel to remind me. You would be surprised at how much condensation builds up inside the tank, especially here in south Georgia..