WVO Prep Tank

Here's a little attempt at an all-in-one, "economy" style WVO (waste vegetable oil) prep tank, meant to get that grease all ready and good to go! In theory, the tank should filter most any particulate matter from the waste oil, as well as separate any water suspended within the oil (via heating the oil and then letting it settle again). It even has a nifty gauge to check oil quality and quantity :) 

The main purpose here was to construct a practical, fairly inexpensive, yet effective means to store and prepare the WVO. Hopefully that was accomplished...

Step 1 Gathering the parts...

First step is to gather the parts. I used...

- Plastic 55 gallon drum (10.00)
- Electric hot water heating element and adapter kit (26.00)
- Misc. plumbing adapters (20.00)
- Filter bag (10.00)
- Electrical project box/components (10.00)

Comments

[kraM]

cool i guess but what do you use the wvo for, bio diesel?

[1tri2god]

yup, or if you convert the vehicle with any number of fuel heaters, use it straight as it is (after you heat test for lack of water, and its filtered). We've moved on to using home grown algae oil with a closed loop benzene extraction, before using the oil in the vw.

[M0rtii]

I'd be interested if you could explain your process for extracting and refining the algae oil. I've seen a bunch of people talking about possible ways of making it useful, but no one has actually done it.

[tysherman]

couldn't have said it better myself :)

[iPodGuy]

I know WVO means Waste Vegetable Oil, but you might want to add that to the title of the i'ble. I like it!

[tysherman]

good call. thanks!

[1tri2god]

Excellent job!!!! I would just suggest that you absolutely add a thermostat to the heater (as well as a water heater blanket around the drum)- from a messy personal experience! The plastic sides soften before the oil will burn or boil. The softer sides eventually rupture when you're not looking at 2 in the morning;) !!!! As a more permanent fix, I would encourage you to get (a single one at first) stainless steel keg and make the same adjustments. There is no risk of rust (if you use stainless adapters) and nearly as thermally insulative as the plastic! Later on, if you want to add volume, you can cut the top off one keg and the bottom of one keg and have them welded together! 3 kegs make 45 gallons!

[tysherman]

heck ya! having a stainless steel set-up would primo. unfortunately, i don't really have the welding tools for that at the moment, but someday i would love to take your advice. as far as the thermostat goes, do you think i'd be able to just add simply (only) an electric hot water heater thermostat to the circuit, and adjust the temperature via the little dial on the thermostat? either way, thanks for the comment!

[westfw]

WVO == Waste Vegetable Oil ?