recycle your own oil?

[electrolover]

so i did a search and all i could find was a wicking method that took weeks and running it threw Toilet Paper.

there is a company that makes a machine, but it looks very expensive

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
If this was me, i would do 2 things:

1. Donate the oil to a friend with an old school diesel, so it could be used as fuel.
2. Stop doing 3k oil changes and move to 5-6k (dino) or 10k (quality synthetic).

Now, I also have a backlog of used oil that I failed to recycle right away, but at least it's 5k OCI, so it is near spent.


I'm with Jacek on this one. Give it to a guy with an old-school diesel truck so he can mix it in with his fuel. If you really want to re-refine oil you would need to have a fractional distillation tower of your own.

 

[electrolover]

like i said in the original post im doing it. the topic is ideas on how to do it. its cool i can figure it out. my only real concern is getting fuel and water out. a good by pass filter will take care of the rest

 

[xzeroth]

why dont u just sell ur used oil?

 

[rk1407]

Great idea, I have thought of doing something like this myself but I don't have the space or time!

So from my understanding oil never really wears out. The additives wear out and it gets dirty, so this is mostly why we change it.

Start looking at centrifuges that will spin the dirt out of the oil and get it back to a very clean state. Big rig diesel trucks and now even smaller pickup trucks use inline centrifuges that run constantly. Someone on Bitog probably can chime in on centrifuges. When the centrifuge cleans the oil all you need to do is replace the additives. I have two ideas for this.

1. As mentioned in other responses, mix the cleaned up oil with 50% new oil. High mileage oil or extended performance oil which have more additives might be a better choice. From what I have read on Bitog, Delo or Delvac might be a good choice since they seem to be loaded with "good" stuff (yes, I know that was very scientific!). Then just keep splitting the oil 50-50 forever. The new oil you would mix it with would have to be a couple of weights higher to offset the sheared oil. For example: 4 quarts of 10w30 might shear down to 5w20 by the time you change the oil so you would need to add 2 quarts of 15w40 to even things out.

2. You could buy and add or own additives and do VOA testing on them.

In either case, you would have to do some VOA and UOA to verify you are not damaging your vehicle. On top of it you would have done a lot of work for very little gain.

I am not against the idea by any means if you have the time and resources. It would be a great science project for a school or something like that.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: electrolover
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
It sounds like a lot of work to me to make it useable for anything other than a beater, leaker, or oil burner that you don't care about. Winter will be here before you know it. Mix small amounts of it into your home heating oil tank and get rid of it that way. That makes it worth whatever the price of heating oil is at the time. I did it when I had oil heat, as did a few of my friends. When 3 or 4 gallons goes into the tank on top of a fresh fill of heating oil it works great. Run it through a paint strainer sock first. If you don't have oil heat you can offer it to someone who does. There's probably over $100 worth of heat there. JMO



no one uses oil heat in texas.


Learn something new everday.

 

[morris]

the best way to use used motor oil is to mix it 50/50 with diesel fuel and spray along the fence line, to keep the weeds down.

 

[scurvy]

Originally Posted By: morris
the best way to use used motor oil is to mix it 50/50 with diesel fuel and spray along the fence line, to keep the weeds down.


Sounds like a waste of diesel and a good way to contaminate the soil.

Why not call up Safety-Kleen or whomever recycles oil down there and tell them you have 40 gallons of waste motor oil you'd like them to collect?

 

[dla]

Maybe this is way too simplistic but if you only ran the oil for 3,000 miles why not just run a UOA on the entire batch. There may already be enough additives left in the oil that all you have to do is filter the oil.

 

[electrolover]

you guys are missing the point. i can call anytime and have the oil picked up. i want to try and renew it a little, test samples and run it followed by a UOA.

im going to heat and mix it, to burn off water and fuel. im thinking 200 F for about 3 hrs while mixing should work.
then filter it, with a series of oil filters or the wick method
then dr it up with some on the shelf additives for moly ,detergents, and ZDDP.
then its VOA time to see if it is even usable.
my goal is a clean looking oil with low tan, a decent tbn and 0 fuel or water, with low insolubles and wear metals

the object of discussion is the BEST methods to accomplish each task, not what to do with the oil, or if it will be good enough for use.

if anyone can help out with maybe the filter selection and order or what temp gas evaporates, the correct amount of additives to start with, or any other IDEAS

PLEASE DO

 

[electrolover]

Originally Posted By: dla
Maybe this is way too simplistic but if you only ran the oil for 3,000 miles why not just run a UOA on the entire batch. There may already be enough additives left in the oil that all you have to do is filter the oil.



how bout filter the oil and then test it? got any ideas on the most efficient way to filter it?

 

[ahoier]

Wow, this is a really terriffic idea...just chiming in, I like the rope trick to "wick" the old oil....but [censored], that'll take a long time

Granted, it should get a lot of the contaminants out.

The problem with removing the water I can see is, granted, you want to get the oil extremely hot so it "boils away" per se.....but by doing so, will also "use" your spent up oil.


On the other hand though.....if you really only did 3k oil changes...I can't see this oil being THAT bad.....provided it's been in a sealed drum of some sort, where no contaminants (other than that of crankcase type...lol) can get in..

Many people in the race/track/performance area seem to like the whole "Filter Mag" idea, a magnet wrapped around the filter, to "attract" metal particulates, I don't think it would hurt to incorporate this aspect into your "machine"/process

As far as blending the additives, I think it you keep the process to one or 5 gallons at a time, you could pick up some "paint buckets" from walmart, and use the paint buckets to store your oil....in fact I don't think they would mind "shaking" your oil for you really

But then again, I don't know how secure a paint bucket would be to contain oil....since they are usually justed "hammered" on....whereas, an oil container is generally contains a screw-on lid...possibly, some sort of "churning action" similar to that of the old school "butter churns" they used in near-prehistoric times? LOL....I don't know, jut ideas I'm thinking of.....then again, I like the "paddle mixer" idea....THAT may actually work...

On the other hand, I'm all for the 50/50 option....being that the oil has only been used in operation for 3000 miles, I don't see a problem with the "mixing" of new old, with the old oil, surely that would be the "simplest" of all options....if you decided to add further filtration or additives to "re process" (yea, note; I'm not calling it "re fine" since it'll likely be far from "refined" grade oil) the I think the oil would still perform well.

BUT, I still wouldn't mind seeing a "UOA" from a 55 gallon barrel of "who knows what the h is mixed in"

THAT, sir would be an interesting site! IMHO of course....
Quote:
i wonder how hot i would have to get the oil to burn off any gas or water while agitating with the paddle mixer?
I think that will honestly be the hardest part...granted, you can run many "in line" and "by pass" filters....but to get the gas and water to "burn off" will likely be your biggest obstacle...I guess you could consult UOAs to differentiate the flash points of various oils, and figure water boils at 100o Celcious...and somehow "meet in the middle" but if you were to "ignite" or "heat" the oil in any way it'll likely "tax" the "living" additive pack left in the stored oil as well.....I guess that's when it comes down to UOAs, and deciding to either a) mix the old oil and new oil 50/50, or b) going for other over the counter additives to "fill the void" wheather it be "STP" grade ZDDP, Liqui-Moly for Moly, etc...hehe.

Quote:
I don't know how you'd get a similar thing for oil that restores TBN and VI improvers. Maybe one of the "not street legal" racing ZDDP additives? STP?
The only thing I could think of would be to use additives over the counter to supplement what has been lost/burned/etc......but yea, acids could be a problem too.....



As a last resort, some options:
1) 5 gallons a day, every day until the drum is gone, to your local WM. No questions asked, they just want your name address and signature and how many quarts you drop off (5 gallon max, minimum though....per day). it's supposed to be for "non commercial use" but if they question, just tell them you have it all stored, and haven't had a chance to dump it

2) sell it on craigslist to be used as fuel for burners, diesels, etc....

3) Call up Coastal or "Safety Kleen" or any other "Oil recycler" they "may" pay you, they may not, to pick up the used oil....

4) the city dump/waste treatment plant - don't know exactly what they do with it, but they allow drop offs here, 7a-8p....no questions asked.....

 

[ahoier]

P.S. it took me about 6 hrs before I replied lol....went on a road trip, so I will add:
Originally Posted By: dla
Maybe this is way too simplistic but if you only ran the oil for 3,000 miles why not just run a UOA on the entire batch. There may already be enough additives left in the oil that all you have to do is filter the oil.

Good point, and that's kind of what I was getting at, with the whole idea of "mixing it" 50/50 with new oil.....but [censored], he could have perfectly good motor oil there....he just doesn't know it.

I'd give it a good agitation, then grab a sample from the drum.....to get your "base line" numbers, than see what needs to be added to bring it up to par with your additive requirements.....

Granted, the insolubles could be skewed a little bit....even if you got a long ladle and took the sample from the "middle" of the drum - since the sampling would simply be what lands in the ladles, and "clings" to the ladle

 

[electrolover]

with the rope thing taking so long and it being ventilated instead of locked in an air tight drum i wounder if fuel and water would evaporate on its own? im actually thinking of doing just this and sending a sample in to look for water, fuel, and tan. with 40 gallons it might take a long time tho...

as far as the acid goes, the only thing i can come up with right now is adding fresh oil in with it. oil is supposed to have additives to neutralize acid formation..right?? im sure there is something else a person can use tho...


the rope method is by far cheaper than buying a bunch of filters and hoses (im guessing about $500 to filter and clean the oil) but it is more time consuming.

i have been looking into remote filter mounts and they are alot cheaper from jegs vs amsoil. i wonder if the bipass filter would hook up to one or if its some odd ball size to make you buy the amsoil filter mount..

i still have no idea what i would use for a pump, i want a 120 volt pump thats oil resistant and cost effective but i may end up using some cheap holly blue from ebay with a 12v transformer. not sure how a fuel pump would do with oil tho..

 

[electrolover]

Originally Posted By: ahoier
P.S. it took me about 6 hrs before I replied lol....went on a road trip, so I will add:
Originally Posted By: dla
Maybe this is way too simplistic but if you only ran the oil for 3,000 miles why not just run a UOA on the entire batch. There may already be enough additives left in the oil that all you have to do is filter the oil.

Good point, and that's kind of what I was getting at, with the whole idea of "mixing it" 50/50 with new oil.....but [censored], he could have perfectly good motor oil there....he just doesn't know it.


I'd give it a good agitation, then grab a sample from the drum.....to get your "base line" numbers, than see what needs to be added to bring it up to par with your additive requirements.....

Granted, the insolubles could be skewed a little bit....even if you got a long ladle and took the sample from the "middle" of the drum - since the sampling would simply be what lands in the ladles, and "clings" to the ladle

im sure i could run all of it threw a coffee filter and it would still have life left, but thats why i thought of it because this oil is not too far from being good oil, so if i mess up and dont filter it well or something there is less risk than if it were HDEO out of a big rig with 30k on it

im not sure if this stuff will even help so starting the first time with some life left in the oil would be a good idea. yea thats right, i said FIRST TIME lol. if it works out i wont be buying much oil in the future

 

[ahoier]

I can't see how that would work with a coffee filter.....lol, eventually the filter would cave in/disintegrate? How about a [censored] load of bounty towels? Or cheese cloth or something?

Pump the oil through a filter about 6 feet up in the air, then have it trickle down a rope, onto the Bounty Paper Towels/Toilet Paper/Coffee Filter of some sort, the oil would then land in the "processed" barrel to be re-bottled and oil analyzed

I think a before oil analysis and an afterward oil analysis would be cool.....

But yea, big problem will definitely be the acids I think.....so in the end you may need to simply "cut" the "processed" oil 50/50 with "new" oil....but eh, still saving money

The whole set up with the ropes though, would be interesting though....any idea of a possible set up? More than 1 rope would definitely be a help

Something I was thinking of, was like a funnel sort of deal, with maybe 4 ropes coming out of it, that way it can filter 4x as much oil.....would just have to adjust the timing a bit, so the "funnel" structure doesn't over flow the "holding container" that sits above the ropes.

 

[nepadriver]

Heat the oil in a 55 Gal drum, heating method can be smoldering (not smoking) embers. Temp check with digital thero , obviously not to be used on your food again. Stir it with a giant metal post, from a chain link fence, while heating, or similar item. After its heated for 3-4 for hours at 200F or more, it should be done. Let it cool, pump into your filtration system. You can stack old oil filters or new Frams? on top of one another, duct tapes together with a seperator between them, funnel around them. Pour on top to fill up, once full it pours out onto the next and so on about 4 times , same way to filter cheap vodka and make it better using Britas.
Then add your stuff, take a sample and tell us the results!

 

[Shannow]

 

[FZ1]

Here's a good idea. Recycle it at Pep Boys.