Dispersants, soot, and effectivness?

[1project2many]

I'm working on removing soot from used diesel oil. I have a small centrifuge which will remove a fair amount of soot but eventually the amount of time required increases while the amount of soot removed per time decreases and it's not worth additional effort. I'm currently learning about the role of dispersants in motor oil and the the effects they have on my project.

1) Simple question that I haven't yet noticed the answer to. Does physically removing soot with the centrifuge alter the quantity of dispersant, or affect the dispersant molecule? Will some dispersant remain with the soot?

2) Is there a known method to increase attraction between soot particles, or to cause soot particles to aggregate?

3) Is there a way to remove or reduce the effectiveness of dispersants to see if soot aggregates or settles out more freely? I'm currently heating the oil to 150-175 deg F but I'm not sure I want to go higher.

4) I've read that UOA tests for soot levels could involve solvent introduction then filtering out insolubles. What might be a typical ratio of solvent to oil used in this test?

5) I'm not afraid to spend time finding information but most searches using "dispersant" turn up pages and papers related to oil spills. Does anyone know of any decent online resources I could read? I'm muddling my way through some of the chemistry heavy papers I've found but that's a language I only know at a basic level.

Thanks.

 

[TuBon_gRips]

Interesting questions. I'm replying to add this to my Watched Topics because I'm also somewhat interested in the answers

 

[Fleetmon]

I don't know and can't begin to answer your question but in my experiences with diesel engines, centrifuges have been known to spin additives out of oil just like it does soot/dirt. Spinner Corp. centrifuges addressed this issue years ago by slowing down the flow of oil through their filters which in turn slowed down the spin.

 

[1project2many]

Thanks Fleetmon. Most of the centrifuge literature today reports they won't remove additives, and some oil company information agrees. I guess things change with time but it's still worth looking into. Is this in the wrong forum for the deep tech guys to see it?

 

[morris]

i think a fram c-3p filter will filter down to 1-2 microns. but i think that will not do what you need. best i got