Hey Guys,
I have broke off a Testing thread from the main installation discussion. That thing is getting big.

Background; I have a mad scientist up in NY that is running a series of "tests" using a 3-phase RPC setup. His interest is in use in WVO fired furnaces and clearly likes to find the limits. I will post his progress unedited here and feel free to comment.

Note: He is running oil from a burger joint and the post centrifuged pictures are taken at 55F. (not pretty oil) I am going to get him to take some heated pictures of the oil and also run them through a coffee filter to see what comes out.

--------------------------------------------

First I will start with general discussion of these preliminary tests, then specifics with associated conclusions.
As with most experiments, as we accumulate info , we modify the course of the experiment to optimize the time expended.
All my WVO comes in 5gal pails or 4.5gal square containers (no bulk supply). FF supply ONLY in this report

Photos will be individually linked from the following album:
picasaweb.google.com/stewcorman/WVOCentr...1sRgCMyNz5jAh4vvzwE#

my terminology:
raw = unsettled, use entire pail
settled = pour off clear tops until cloudy sediment flows
3600Gs = 6000rpm
cold = winter basement storage @55F+/-
warm = 85F preheated
hot = 90->100F preheated
gel = fatty material on strainer
fat = soft accumulation in basket
crud = dark solids retained in basket
flow rate = 12gal/hr ->40gal/hr
FF = French fries/chicken wings from bar + grill
Asian = supply from restaurant

Initial observations:

WVOdesign centrifuge solidly built, straight foward to assemble
no mechanical issues during operation
easy to remove crud/fat without removing basket
minor care in mounting basket to allow little/no vibration
3600Gs worked so well, no need to do 1200Gs

Calibration:

pressure feed using a vane pump
varied ball valve to adjust line pressure
measured in container marked at 1,2,3 gal with stopwatch
note: as intake strainer accumulated gel, flow rate/pressure changed
upgrade: looking for a gear pump with DC motor speed control

Initial tests:

VFD has amps display which is invaluable
typical amps = 0.8 when dry or w/o feed
typical amps running at 30gal/hr = 1.2amps
startup dry reaches 2.0amps for a few seconds
3ph motor rated at 1.8 amps continuous duty

using provided 3/4" exit elbow fittings
1/2" rubber "washing machine" exit hose
first problem: does not drain sufficiently at 30gal/hr
removed elbow and replaced with straight 3/4" nipple pointing down
replaced hose with 3/4 radiator hose
flow rate up to 40gal/hr (max) cold enabled

WVO operating temp measured at exit hose with digital thermometer
aluminum castings require getting heated to operating temp
used 3500watt/230v calrod hot water heating element
at 115v operation, only 825watts
at 12gal/hr only heats up +30F (warm), while at 30gal/hr only +10F (still cold)at full power, 30gal/hr has + 45F (hot)

first observation :
raw has higher fat content and when run cold, filled basket with fat after only 3gal ...heating is a requirement

settled WVO "tops" has less fat content and filled basket in 10gal
if you only pour off "clear" tops from settled, possible to run cold
picasaweb.google.com/stewcorman/WVOCentr...#5311588412915820082

note: hot at 100F will not dissolve fat accumulated from cold run

removal from basket is easy and takes only a few minutes:
]http://picasaweb.google.com/stewcorman/...#5311598622371615538

I will presume that mostly clear settled WVO can run >55gal before needing cleaning, but popping off the lid after stopping oil flow and motor just takes a minute to look. BTW, if you suspect water contamination, the drain holes in bottom of basket work when basket is stopped and separate sump will drain water as long as basket is NOT filled with crud.

To maintain max flow rate turns out to be trivial because of the VFD readout. When the exit tube was too small, the liquid built up in the outer clean chamber until it started overflowing into the center "heavies" drain sump and correspondingly created friction on the basket....the current went to >2.0 amps. By setting the flow rate to 1.4 amps and insuring that nothing is dumping into the heavies sump, we are maximizing the processing rate as a function of the viscosity ( reads temp).

Each of the runs had jars collected for visual examination
4 back lighted photos starting here, then use -> arrow:
picasaweb.google.com/stewcorman/WVOCentr...#5311590931390008578

Sample observation:

There is a distinct difference between raw and settled.
All settled became clear on top with about <1/3 cloudy bottom and exibited separation within a day.
Cold had foam which did not dissolve after weeks.
There is no visible difference between 12->40gal/hr
Raw remained turbid for four days so far, but raw hot remained uniformly emulsified, cold showed only slight settling but no clearing.

Conclusions:

1) Flow rate is not a factor in cleaning capability at 3600Gs

2) Cold processing accumulates too much fat to be useful

3) Raw processing is quite doable, but fills basket faster

4) competitive units with small exit ports are incapable of high flow rates

5) outdoor processing when temps are in the 90s should NOT require any preheat to avoid fat accumulation

6) furnace sumps should probably be preheated >100F to avoid gel on intakes and prevent suspended fats to collect at bottom

Further studies:
Asian supply may may/not have as much fat content but higher solids content.

All questions and suggestions gladly accepted.

Stew Corman from sunny Endicott

As a further analysis of centrifuged WVO, I took two of the samples
and ran them through a lab filtration setup using 20um filter paper ie coffee filters.
picasaweb.google.com/stewcorman/WVOCentr...#5313141423934545970

The two samples were: settled vs raw @30gal/hr heated
There were two valid questions about the end product after CF:
1) what size particles are really left behind to plug a nozzle
2) is the cloudy material that settles out "particle contamination" or fat

I changed the photo lighting setup with better backlight to show
clarity and sediment:
picasaweb.google.com/stewcorman/WVOCentr...#5314140525736540498
above link shows cold CF for varying flow rates 12->40gal/hr

The technique for filtration is that the sample had to be heated up to about 200F, everything dissolves, run through vacuum filter, then allowed to return to room temp and allowed to settle for two days for photo.

a comparison of original settled but unfiltered to one of the heated filtered is shown:
picasaweb.google.com/stewcorman/WVOCentr...#5313142197980791138
note that the reheated/filtered sample on right is uniformly cloudy.
This confirms that the turbidity and/or settling is a result of fatty precipitates which dissolve at slightly higher than room temps, not particle contamination.

here is a photo of the filter paper:
picasaweb.google.com/stewcorman/WVOCentr...#5313140683291457906
note that there were several visible particles, but much smaller than what would plug a nozzle ...the sediment is very finely divided food particles and much greater density in the raw vs settled sample

the two samples after returning to room temp:
picasaweb.google.com/stewcorman/WVOCentr...#5314141921803196898
note that after four days, both of the above samples started to precipitate out again when stored at 55F (as expected).

Conclusions:
1) WVO requires moderate heating to above 80F to dissolve fatty precipitates which could plug an intake strainer and also to prevent fat from acumulating in basket with only a few gallons of WVO.
Wasting electric juice to heat to 120F is unnecessary and at 30gal/hr flow rate requires a 3500watt heater to just get to 100F. Might as well just wait for sunny summer day and don't CF in middle of winter.

2) There are food particles whose density is the same as the clean oil which will not be removed by CF alone. A 100 mesh screen is sufficient to guarantee nozzle will not get plugged

3)Raw unsettled WVO can be completely processed, but a coarse prefilter is needed to prevent intake strainer from plugging.

disclaimer: I have only processed FF source and have not yet tried the Asian restaurant WVO.

Stew Corman from sunny Endicott