Alternative fuels > Waste Vegetable Oil
Lister CS setup to make it`s own fuel
ajaffa1:
Hey Guys, been too unwell to do much so I`ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking about what sort of shed I should build to house my CS when it is done. I mentioned before that I have an underground exhaust coupled to my ST2, I would like to exhaust the CS into the same system. I think a couple of brass gate valves could be used to isolate the two engines so I don`t get a problem with exhaust fumes/condensation getting into the non running engine.
Sharing the underground exhaust system pretty much determines where the new shed will be so the first thing will be to pour the concrete slab. I`ve been looking at Glorts` keep it simple WVO set up and I`m considering using the heat generated by the CS to heat a barrel of WVO to dry it. Obviously WVO would not be a suitable coolant for the CS so I am considering using a swimming pool heat exchanger(see Pic). This would require a coolant pump on the CS as it would not thermo syphon with a heat exchanger. I am thinking of a simple coolant system with a header tank, open to atmosphere. This will contain water and an inhibitor to prevent corrosion, frost is not an issue where I live.
The primary use for the CS will be to drive a 3 phase generator head for a lathe and milling machine. Probably a 3KW motor wired to generate. I should be able to use one leg off this to drive a drying fan and pump to dry the WVO as per Glorts` video on YouTube.
Dry oil can then be pumped into the fuel tank for the CS and also the ST2.
Thoughts please
Bob
BruceM:
+1 for oil cooling. There's a long history of oil being used for primary engine cooling- including the Rumely oil pull tractor in the US which also used the engine exhaust induced air cooling of the oil filled radiator.
The Rumely had a single cylinder kerosene engine with a 10 inch bore and 12 inch stroke. That's a thumper. Good article and a video link with audio worth watching and hearing:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumely_Oil_Pull
No fan, the exhaust stack is pulling fresh air in through the radiator. I stole that induced draft method for my CS and found only a tiny area of radiator is needed. Oil has much less heat carrying capacity than water but would certainly be more than adequate for our small engines. The higher operating temperature allowed would be a nice plus for efficiency and less fuel related deposits.
ajaffa1:
Thanks guys, food for thought. If I could safely use strained WVO as the coolant I could raise the coolant drum and use thermo syphoning rather than a coolant pump. Would heated oil thermo syphon? I was considering fitting a thermostat in the coolant system to bring the engine up to temperature quicker. Anyone know if a standard thermostat would operate in WVO? They generally have a small hole in them which allows a trickle of cooling fluid to pass until heat causes them to open fully, perhaps this hole would need to be opened up a bit.
I did think about using the exhaust heat, much as suggested by Glort but I am thinking of using it instead to heat the sump oil to drive off the condensation which occurs during short runs. I`ll probably have to add a secondary sump to get it to work right.
Love the idea of a geared pump for aeration/drying I`m thinking automotive oil pump, I might even be able to drive it off one end of the camshaft with a little modification.
That Rumely is a work of art, shame the operator has to nearly kill himself to start the bugger. 10" piston with a 12" stroke sounds dangerous, wonder what the compression ratio would be to run it on Kero? I guess you would probably have to start it on something more volatile.
mike90045:
--- Quote from: glort on February 21, 2018, 01:09:01 AM ---...
I can't see why running veg as a coolant would have anything wrong with it. ...
--- End quote ---
Unless you get a leaky head gasket, and coolant (oil / fuel) gets into the cylinder and you get a runaway engine
i guess most of the time, pressure will leak out of the cylinder, but I've seen engines ruined by coolant getting into the cylinder
ajaffa1:
Thanks Mike, I hadn`t thought about that. I wasn`t thinking of having a pressurised cooling system so there is no reason to suspect that the head gasket would leak. I suspect that it wouldn`t happen in a catastrophic fashion but more likely a gradual deterioration which would be apparent as smoke in the exhaust fumes. I could modify the air intake to include a gate valve to shut off the air supply.
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