Enervac Transformer Oil Vacuum Dehydration & Degasification Process

[@maciejc.617]

I have dehydrated several buckets of transformer oil by doing various additional treatments and I can say that the main factor in increasing efficiency is heating the oil to 70-80 degrees Celsius and running it into narrow gaps in a very low pressure. In none of my experiments did bubbles appear on sharp edges or fiber ends, only in gaps with a small opening angle.

[@jaffasoft8976]

I'm DIY building a old 45KG LPG gas bottle conversion at home as a waste veg oil vacuum chamber. Aim is to dry the oil and use in diesel engine. Do you have any more details or suggestions on what i could use that's cheap and easy to get sharp edges or what you've used to make it go through small tunnels? Initially I was just going to fill the tank 80% full and put a band heater around and heat to 70-80C as you stated and apply a vacuum.

[@charvakkarpe]

Does the free water example pose a problem because the weight of the oil creates pressure on the water that cannot be removed by a vacuum pump? I guess that's another example of why you have to churn the mixture and pour it over the fiberglass elements.

[@maciejc.617]

I think when the pressure is low enough it acts also on the water under the oil layer, so this water could boil in a room temperature and the steam in form of bubbles will go through the oil. It is just a guess, but making the emulsion could increase the efficiency of the dehydration 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@charvakkarpe]

@@maciejc.617 Look up Pascal's Law and the section on a fluid column with gravity. You could have perfect zero pressure in a vessel but the weight of an oil layer will keep the water below it under some pressure and could prevent it from boiling. There's no such thing as pressure below zero, so there's no way to lower the pressure further to counteract the weight of the oil.

[@blazingverde]

Finally, I can reuse my canola oil indefinitely