DIY diesel fuel from used motor oil! Not black diesel!

[@stephentubbs4344]

I wanted to give you a shout out. My daughter used this video as a demonstration for her 6th grade science project “a way to utilize used motor oil”. Out of many videos on KZbin. This video was the most informative video, and provided such a useful yet simple example distilling used motor oil. Thank you. Keep up the good work.

[@karlsoffroad]

That's awesome! Thank you!

[@sooryathejas4336]

👍

[@jeremymcevoy5481]

Gloves on hands, flipflops on feet. That's how ya know you can trust this guy

[@karlsoffroad]

Safety first! Great comment! Gave me a good laugh! Honestly, it's way easier to get a flip-flop off than a boot when a spark goes flying on your foot.

[@Upgraydez]

You got everything needed to make it big on yt! Personality, originality, the look, the voice. I hope the algorithm is gonna be favorable to you.

[@karlsoffroad]

Thank you! I appreciate you taking the time to watch!

[@antoniosestar3671]

You don't need that tall tower... oil vapor is heavy and it doesn't like to rise up, it will condense in the tower before hitting the pipe for outflow... make it shorter as possible... also get a copper pipe with larger diameter for better output... insulate the barrel around would also help for production

[@karlsoffroad]

This was an experiment, and I just used what I had on hand. Now that I learned a few things, I'll get it dialed in. Thanks for watching, and the advice.

[@keneppens4386]

Or put some glass wool insulation around the fraction ingredients column. That will keep the temp more even and responsive to changes to your heat input. You are on the right track, just need to add some chemistry techniques. Good luck.

[@adamshine5]

very interesting! Maybe add some temp guages in the setup...Maybe below the liquid, above the liquid where vapors are, and in the riser. That way you know your fractional distillation, and what you're pulling off.

[@samstokes6872]

I am glad it turned out good and you’re safe.

[@brenttamatea7578]

i thought what an awesome idea its a learning process pleased nothing was damaged but a successful demonstration of cleaning used oil i saw on a youtube channel how you could easily clean cooking oil by using gelatine mixed in warm water and mix it with the cooking oil the next day all the impuritys are gone and you just tip out the clean oil and afterwards pull out the set gelatine and throw it away super simple process and i thought if it works for cooking oil it could work for engine oil so i was going to try it i am in the country so have had to order the gelatine in But your process works really well and people should be recycling used oil for diesel vechicles or just for burning or heating and your oil burner works awesome Thanks for sharing

[@karlsoffroad]

@@brenttamatea7578 Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment! Have a great day!

[@Moonlightshadow-lq4fr]

I absolutely love videos like this that show detailed stuff that most people wouldn't even think about. I can remember flanging exhausts for my own cars but that needed a hammer and a cone thing to whack on during busy Sunday afternoons in the 70's when most anyone could work on cars. These days you need a computer engineering course under your belt just to open the hood!

[@karlsoffroad]

Thank you! I just thought I'd show how I made the connection. I try to cover my bases, but things get forgotten or seem unimportant at the time. Lol,I hear ya on the computer stuff. My scanner is worth more than my car!

[@christopherhind8680]

Love it ,thanks for the info, I use my own plus what I just learned from your process 💪🏾💪🏾

[@kf6948]

You could buy a vented funnel. Or stick something alongside the funnel to let the air escape around it.

[@coachgeo]

your first fractions are not an oil fuel fraction. Would be more of a petrol like fraction. Till it hits the right temp to be putting out a kero/diesel fraction ...... you can feed the early stuff (while still in gas form- do not even need to condense it) right into the burner fire to use it as an aid to your heating process

[@broadriverforge]

cool video

[@karlsoffroad]

Thank you!

[@Moonlightshadow-lq4fr]

That was amazing! I thought at first your burner wasn't hot enough lmao 🤣 I thought the beer keg woulddraw too much heat away and you would also get the condensation dripping into the burner from the keg. Turns out I was dead wrong 😅😅😅 But wow! once it got going it worked that well you could get a compressor and start your own lpg business! and the rate of flow you if you got a metered pump bowser you would have a string of traffic outside your house lining up for cheap fuel🤩🤩🤩 But as you say, the machine you have built is rather large and hardly worth it if you don't use the diesel for your motor. Anyway, you could use that fuel as a starter for the burner. Add a layer of oil in the base of burner and pour on your homemade diesel on top and the diesel should light fairly easily with one piece of tissue paper instead of the oh so useful blow torch which is expensive to get refills. I was totally shocked it melted the aluminium too because of where it was situated, mind you I have made burners that will melt stainless steel using oil, not that I even wanted to either when trying casting aluminium 🥲 Can't believe either how clean your product is, just wow man!

[@D3rron08]

Great job!, do u think adding more turns on the coil will help with the gasses?

[@karlsoffroad]

Yes,I just wanted to run a test and see if my contraption would work. I'm going to make some major improvements and run another batch. Thanks for watching!

[@lifeoftraveling8330]

What is the best way to connect the cooling coil to the steel pipe I'm using black iron pipe and stainless steel 3/8 tubing

[@karlsoffroad]

@lifeoftraveling8330 they sell adapters at most hardware stores. I'm using an adapter that goes from black pipe to 3/8ths copper with a compression fitting on the copper side.

[@lifeoftraveling8330]

Ok thanks I tryed soldering but the soldering was melting loose

[@karlsoffroad]

@lifeoftraveling8330 ,I have a newer video with the improvements made to the system. I also had much cleaner production.

[@NotSoGrandGarage]

I've always liked the idea of distillation and have thought about it quite a bit over the years. My only question is energy input. Is the fuel output worth the energy input to heat the oil to the point of distillation? Thanks for the info.

[@karlsoffroad]

For me, it is because I use waste oil to heat it,and my blower only uses 19 watts.

[@NotSoGrandGarage]

@@karlsoffroad nice. Have you ever had any close calls as far as fire and such goes? That's something else that's always put me off a bit. Also, how much output do you get per gallon of input?

[@karlsoffroad]

@NotSoGrandGarage ,I'm working on a video about the output now. It should be posted this week. I've made some messes, but no explosions yet! Lol

[@ZarawarKhan-gs8hr]

Hey carl look at the channel of alek polek & do one thing he used the sodium ethoxide cleaning of recycled waster motor oil u use instead potassium ethoxide.as per him base oil & diesel are the same

[@mickwolf1077]

great video. would it be beneficial to have some kind of packing in the column? I've had most things needed to make an alcohol still for about 20 years but haven't gotten off my ass. now I don't drink and plenty of wmo this might be a good project. id like to know how to pull different fractions at the same time tho if its possible in a home setup.

[@karlsoffroad]

I had some OOOO steel wool packed in the column. I'm doing another video today with the shortest possible column I can manage. I had quite a few comments suggesting that, so we'll see what happens.

[@mickwolf1077]

@@karlsoffroad cant wait to see 😊

[@karlsoffroad]

@mickwolf1077 ,I ran into some issues during the run for the video, slightly postponed at the moment. I will add some things and try to pull some different fractions, too. Would be nice to get some gasoline.

[@linctexpilot8337]

You won’t get gasoline…… Maybe a couple ounces, at the very beginning of the run… But that was just what was already trapped in the engine oil. The reason is…… You’re NOT starting with “crude oil”. You’re starting with “motor oil”, which has already been through the refinery column. The best you can get out of this is diesel… So time to find a diesel vehicle to start driving!!

[@ryanclarke2161]

Very interested in if the oil you made turned darker after a few days and also if it stinks terribly?. I have done this 3 times now and each time the oil stinks so bad i wouldn't dare pour it in anything. The liquid I recover starts clear but becomes darker after several days as it oxidise. Even performing the destilling operation under vacuum stank.

[@karlsoffroad]

Slightly, but still burns just fine. I will be getting a small diesel to test the fuel. I've had some sitting for about a month, and I'll use that for my first test.I think the fuel should be treated with sulphuric acid and potassium bicarbonate,but I don't like the idea of having more chemicals added. I see people running straight waste oil or a blend, so I'm confident this will run just fine.

[@Cire3PC]

So you have a new note to self. Flames of death + aluminum = No Bueno.😂

[@karlsoffroad]

That's a great summary of the events that took place! 🤣

[@lifeoftraveling8330]

So how tall was your stack you made on top the keg I'm looking to build one out of a 55 gallon drum

[@karlsoffroad]

About 5 feet,I changed it since then. I was in the middle of a run and ran into a different issue. I will be posting the video soon.

[@lifeoftraveling8330]

@karlsoffroad8609 ok can you let me know the change or going to mention it in the next video

[@karlsoffroad]

@@lifeoftraveling8330 ,I will have details in the next video. I made the tower as short as possible along with some other changes. Thanks for reaching out!

[@Rose-f2t]

Karl, if you had put some fermented sugar wash with corn meal in your keg, you would have made moonshine 🤪

[@karlsoffroad]

Maybe I will do that next! Lol

[@DBHHellhound]

You gotta try burning tires. A russian guy made fuel from melting chopped tires in a barrel with firewood underneath the barrel. The output fuel was something more powerful than Gasoline.

[@karlsoffroad]

I might try some different things after I get this setup dialed in.

[@eby6114]

Insulation will 10 x this project. All your time and heat is being lost on thermal losses. Aluminum heat sink

[@karlsoffroad]

@@eby6114 I did wrap it in insulation. Thank you for your suggestion.

[@linctexpilot8337]

At 12:00 , I’m screaming at the phone… TURN YOUR FIRE DOWN 1) Your whole “beer keg” needs to be inside another metal canister, as a fire chamber … you’re losing too much heat out of the sides, and the top of the keg 2) Your column should probably be insulated, also 3) Your copper tubing is way too small 4) Your condenser section is way WAY WAY too small - Quadruple the size of your condenser!!!! The product that drips out of the end should be room temperature - or cooler than that!!!! If the product that comes out is warm to the touch, you need to have MORE condenser, yet

[@karlsoffroad]

It comes out cold,so no problem there. I realize it's not efficient in any way. I'm definitely going to be using a different vessel to hold the oil in the future. I'm just experimenting until I get my setup working. I just used what I had laying around and went for it. Thanks for your suggestions!

[@linctexpilot8337]

@@karlsoffroad Cool, good to know!

[@tonydiesel3444]

Do you need to have catch trays in a distillation column it is too tall you're going to have too much reflux possibility of thermal Runaway also needs to be vented and breathable to the atmosphere to reduce the possibility of the big bada boom:-)

[@karlsoffroad]

I shortened it, and it worked better. I am going to make it even shorter for the next run.

[@bradnichol6024]

You should actually not vent to atmosphere. Pyrolysis of petroleum requires extremely high temperatures and an absence of oxygen. This is what allows the vapors to form instead of burning off. The way it is being done here is actually extremely dangerous, as the vapors are highly flammable and are not being contained to prevent them from reaching the open flame just a couple of feet away. There is much more fabrication that needs to be done to complete this project and make it safe. I have been doing this to make fuel for about two years and would be happy to give you pointers and links to sources of good information on how to do this safely. Please don't fire that thing back up without fabricating a way to contain ALL of the vapors and gasses because doing this incorrectly could easily kill you and whoever else is around.

[@tonydiesel3444]

@@bradnichol6024 okay how or what's the easiest best cheapest fastest way to treat b a s e oil from cracked distilled petroleum waste products

[@leadfoot8593]

So burn a gallon of some fuel to make a pint of “diesel”?

[@karlsoffroad]

This particular run,that would be a fair guess. I will get it dialed in, and it should be a 1 to 1 ratio. I'm burning waste oil to make the diesel, so I'm still ahead.

[@vinceferraccioli4661]

What's the cost to heat the tank. To make the diesel.

[@karlsoffroad]

Free used motor oil and about 20 watts of electricity for the blower. I'd guess about 10 cents?

[@bm_viktor875]

Why not use a check valve pump to feed it

[@tonydiesel3444]

The tubing is way too small you cannot have any rubber pieces as they will burn and you need much more surface cooling area and contact with water AKA bigger heat exchanger

[@ryelor123]

Is there a way to add sulfur so that the injection pumps don't wear out?

[@karlsoffroad]

All of our diesel is ultra low sulfur at the pump. They might make an additive to add more lubrication characteristics.

[@SharpeTimber]

Is your stack vented on the top?

[@karlsoffroad]

No,just off to the side running to the condenser/cooler.

[@A2J_Tim]

how do you test it to see if its diesel and not somthing more volatile?

[@karlsoffroad]

I haven't had the opportunity to test it in an engine yet, but I can tell you that it burns just like pump diesel when lit. I will be getting a cheap diesel engine to run it through to see what happens.

[@nickd5943]

You really got my attention with this video! Lmao!! I’ll bet you did “ shit a brick” when the still started to fall over! Is the keg made from stainless or aluminum? Also how flammable is the distillate you ended up with? Try to be safe, and thanks for sharing.

[@D3rron08]

Im also interesting in how well it burns and would be great to see it run in a diesel engine

[@karlsoffroad]

The keg is aluminum, not the first choice, but it was free! It seems to burn very similar to pump diesel, I just used it to light my boiler, and it was no different than when I use pump diesel. The still falling over was not something I thought about! Lol,thanks for watching!

[@karlsoffroad]

@D3rron08 ,I plan on buying a cheap diesel engine and testing it. I think it will run just fine. People are running straight, waste motor oil or a blend,so I'm pretty confident it will run fine.I did some cold temperature testing, and it never gelled at all.

[@ron1386]

What's the final yield when you use two 5qt used oil containers?

[@karlsoffroad]

@@ron1386 ,I didn't get to find out on this run because of the catastrophic failure of one of the supports. I will do another run with some steel supports and a shorter tower. The keg still feels like it has quite a bit in it. I'm sure I could've gotten 2 gallons,maybe a little less? I will dump it out and add a specific amount to get an accurate test.

[@Superduty_59]

Dang that could've been bad! Time to regroup and try again.

[@karlsoffroad]

Yes, it could have been much worse! It did make a mess, but no fires or major spills! Lol 🤣

[@ShanePhillips-mv7bi]

Cost more in gas

[@karlsoffroad]

@ShanePhillips-mv7bi I'm burning free used motor oil, so it doesn't cost anything but time.

[@MarkShinnick]

So costly to produce.

[@karlsoffroad]

@MarkShinnick Blower uses 20 watts, and the oil is free, so it might cost a dollar or so. It's not too bad. Thanks for watching!

[@MarkShinnick]

@@karlsoffroad Interesting and worth showing, that's for sure.

[@WillyLumpLump]

What mental patient does this inside a structure! Think of all the money you’ll save distilling your own diesel! I bet your insurance agent doesn’t have a clue what you’re doing!

A real back yarder doing this video, using 1/4" mild steel bolt on a product that is heated, i would never recommend.

[@karlsoffroad]

There are two 5/ 16th bolts that hold the flange together and two 3/8th bolts that bolt both flanges to each other. I'm not sure if that's what you are talking about? These flanges are meant for exhaust systems. They are a repair flange for the pipe to manifold connections, and your exhaust system gets just as hot if not hotter. I would say the flanges are not an issue as far as safety. The rest of the process is far more dangerous! 😆 This is in no way a how-to video.