Does gasoline remain dissolved in waste oil blend diesel fuel?

[Curbie]

beyond biodiesel,

I've had good luck with my DYI viscometer in obtaining repeatable results, have you tried blending with methanol, its Reid Vapor Pressure is about 60% of gasoline permitting greater fuel pre-heat to equalize viscosity with that of diesel, was about $1/gal in 55 gallon quantities last time I bought a drum several years ago, and has a much higher auto-ignition temperature (875F) than gasoline (500F)?

I have not tried blending with methanol, just transesterification, and was just curious.

Thanks,

Curbie

[beyond biodiesel]

Good to know Curbie, that your home made viscosometer is reliable.

Yes, I have tried blending waste oils with various alcohols (isopropanol, methanol and ethonal) none of them would go into solution with canola oil.  I have not tried them with motor oil, but I am willing to speculate that it will not work without a co-solvent.  Acetone is a common co-solvent, and I am willing to speculate it will take acetone at about 15% in methanol to get it to blend with any oil.

[EBI-WPO]

Just curious,
Is this the Jeff Brooks that grew up in Highland NY?

Terry

[veggie]

beyond biodiesel,

I've had good luck with my DYI viscometer in obtaining repeatable results, have you tried blending with methanol, its Reid Vapor Pressure is about 60% of gasoline permitting greater fuel pre-heat to equalize viscosity with that of diesel, was about $1/gal in 55 gallon quantities last time I bought a drum several years ago, and has a much higher auto-ignition temperature (875F) than gasoline (500F)?

I have not tried blending with methanol, just transesterification, and was just curious.

Thanks,

Curbie

Hey Curbie,

How did you build your DIY viscometer ?
I've been thinking of putting one together for quite some time.

veggie

[Curbie]

beyond biodiesel,

I understand why 91% isopropanol (9% water) and 90% everclear ethanol (10% water) won't create a solution because of the water, and I'm not sure if the denatured alcohol (ethanol) is dried before denaturing, but the methanol should not contain water so immiscibility does seem related to water alone, an interesting set of experiments, thanks for sharing.

veggie,

I starting with a (a few really, after mistakes) 2 oz stainless steel shot jiggers, and a thin bolt with a flat head and not threaded all the way to head with matching nuts, and a low tension coil spring, and a 100 ml graduated test tube.

Drilled a hole in the bottom of the shot jigger slightly larger than the unthreaded bolt shaft, put the bolt through the bottom of the jigger a washer and nut for the spring to keep the bolt head seated to the button of the jigger.

The tricks to repeatable results are always put exactly 55ml of liquid in to start the test with and I time the time it takes to fill from 10ml to 50 ml of the graduated test tube. My times are repeatable within a second, but that difference may be due to my age. I like the size of the hole to be such, that the test times are between 30 and 60 seconds depending on viscosity. Obviously, the viscosity of oil depends on temperature and I use a cheapo analog 0-220 kitchen thermometer. 

Curbie

[beyond biodiesel]

Just curious,
Is this the Jeff Brooks that grew up in Highland NY?

Terry

Nope, born and raised in Tucson, Arizona, traveled around the world by the time I was 15, went to 5 high schools, two of which were in southern NJ, which was a far cry from the previous schools in Australia and Trinidad BWI.

For those wanting to make your own viscup.  Here is a chart for making them:

[Curbie]

beyond biodiesel,

I'm confused by Average Centistokes per second... Efflux time * Average Centistokes/s does not equal Centistokes. Is there more to that diagram?

Curbie

[beyond biodiesel]

Curbie, the chart is one that I put together from multiple sources, so there may be some inconsistencies in it.  The sources were all interested in selling precision machined viscups at about $200 US, so they were not going to provide all of the data.  Also, each cup comes with a curve to adjust your reading.  And, of course the orifice is different for each cup.  Also, there might just be some differences in cup volume from one manufacturer to the next, which I was not able to collect for all, but cup volume = 50cc for the one I use, which has interchangeable orifices.  However, the data should give anyone sufficient information to make a cup.  A home made cup is going to have to be calibrated anyway.

[Curbie]

Curbie, the chart is one that I put together from multiple sources, so there may be some inconsistencies in it.  The sources were all interested in selling precision machined viscups at about $200 US, so they were not going to provide all of the data.  Also, each cup comes with a curve to adjust your reading.  And, of course the orifice is different for each cup.  Also, there might just be some differences in cup volume from one manufacturer to the next, which I was not able to collect for all, but cup volume = 50cc for the one I use, which has interchangeable orifices.  However, the data should give anyone sufficient information to make a cup.  A home made cup is going to have to be calibrated anyway.

beyond biodiesel,

I wish I had that information before I did my testing, but thanks for the information, here's the full Zahn Cup specs and math to estimate Centistoke.

Curbie

[beyond biodiesel]

beyond biodiesel,

I wish I had that information before I did my testing, but thanks for the information, here's the full Zahn Cup specs and math to estimate Centistoke.

Curbie

Thanks, Curbie, for posting the new chart.  Very useful.