Vacuum pumps can be used from an old freezer or fridge. Fab has most all of his equipment through various free sources. Ive posted pics of mine, which are rough and smaller versions of fabs. I started with a 55 gallon barrel with brazed in fixtures, plugs and fittings. Its all about your resources and skill level at both plumbing and scrounging around. St Louie cant be the only chemical supply company around. Many are located near a rail road line in the industial section of towns. Just throwing hints.

 

I use an appleseed style cooker which I attached my condenser to the hot out side. I use the same vessel to cook the bio and also cook my glycerol to recover the methanol. Now that I just scored a nice tank that will handle a vacuum I will be setting up to recover the methanol from the bio by using vacuum before I drain it from the processor. I have been getting great results with a simple condenser. I've made fuel using just the recovered methanol and had no problems with a complete reaction.

 

My rough plan is to use a 55 gallon steel drum for the reactor, a 55 gallon poly drum for the settling tank, and an old hot water heater for the methanol recovery vacuum vessel. setting the vacuum pump up so i can either vacuum or apply pressure to it and use the vacuum pump to fill and evacuate the vessel. a question about oil collection tho. If using a steel 55 gal drum at the restraunt for collection. would it be possible to plumb in a air quick coupler and use a cheap 12v air compressor and a pressure regulator to pressurize the drum and push the wvo into a drum in the truck. i don't think a drum would take much pressure, but should take a few psi which would be enough to push the oil up into the back of a truck as long as it's not too cold and thick. just a thought i've been kicking around.

 

How are you going to seal or put oil in a 55 at the restraunt? Anyways you already have the fittings in the top of the drum. Remember you have the fitting with no length into the drum and the other has to have a tube going to the bottom to push the oil up the tube into your container.

 

The 2 restraunts i've talked to both empty their vats using metal buckets. if i put a 55 out there with a barrel funnel with lid on it they could just dump their bucket into the funnel, just as long as they put the lid back on the funnel when they're done. plumb the air into the small bung, and have a modified 2" bung with the pick up tube in it. remove the funnel install the 2" bung and pressurize. leave the pickup tube several inches from the bottom so it doesn't pick up as much trash. like i said, don't know if it'll work but was just a thought.
what is everyone else using for a collection receptacle at the restraunt besides the cubes it comes in?

 

It probably wouldn't work especially in the winter, when it gets cold even around 40* the oil will be to thick. When it get's colder than that it will be like a paste. I use a 2" (reduced down to 1" hose easier to handle), gas pump that I got from tractor supply for around $180.00. Even with the gas pump in the winter I have to warm the oil a little. I do this with a hot water heating element attached to an extension cord that I cut the plug off, hang it in the drum go in and have a sandwich and when I come back out it's ready to pump.
You also have to remember anytime you put in and take out something from the drum it's covered with oil and it gets to be real messy. With the pump all that is getting oil on it is the suction hose and I try to keep that in the oil just deep enough to pump. A lot less mess.

 

We have been looking at ways to rig up a hoist to switch out our customers. Is that possible for you? Then you replace with a clean one and clean the area up and they are happy.

 

i could probably rig up some kind of cherry picker type of crane to my 5x8 utility trailer and do the barrel swap thing. maybe even build a drum dolly with larger pneumatic casters that i could winch up a ramp into the trailer. i guess the possibilities are almost endless just have to pick the one that works best with what you have available. i'm sure i'll figure out one by trial and error once i actually start collecting.

 

How about this?
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=47591

 

That look's like a nice little unit, but i still think a gas water pump is easier. Plus I use it for transfering oil from one drum to another along with using it to pump the screened oil into my appleseed cooker, it's alot faster than the circulating pump plus when its cold I can move cold thick oil into the cooker and not have to heat it twice.

 

Gun driver, how much do you pump per minute. was just looking at gas water pumps at harbor freight and they're looking like about 100gpm. pumping that fast you'd have to be right there keeping a close eye on it to make sure you don't end up overflowing your recovery tank and spewing oil everywhere. i wonder how well one of those roller pumps they use for ag spraying would work with oil. could hook one of them to an old gas motor and they pump a more manageable 9to16gpm at 1000rpm. i haven't even started collecting or processing yet and i'm already addicted to BD. i'm getting a lot more serious about the thought now since gas just went to $2.86 yesterday and i'm sure diesel is $3 or more. it'll probably come back down next week after easter weekend is over. i'm glad i filled up before the hike though.

 

blkbeast,
Sorry I didn't reply sooner but I have been real busy lately. My pump is rated at 158gpm, but I have it bushed down from 2" to 1" so that would cut that approximately in half. The 1" hose is easier to work with, it also depends on how thick (cold) the oil is on how fast it will pump. I also use the throttle to regulate the pumping speed; it will pump at idle at a nice slow rate. I use a 2' piece of steel pipe with a 90* elbow to keep the return hose from falling out of the drum in my truck.

 

LOL! I have one of those that I picked up at a garage sale for $25! The winch was busted (its frame broke in two), but one of the Harbor Freight 2000 pound utility winches (for $50) fixed that problem.....