Making/Storing Gasoline

self ^ | July 3, 2012 | knarf

[knarf]

It's my understanding that the whole oil refining operation is,

[mnehring]

Here is another idea that was big in WWII during with all the rationing. A wood-gas vehicle.

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/01/wood-gas-cars.html

[thackney]

It's my understanding that the whole oil refining operation is essentially adding heat and separating the different products from the crude.

No, it might have been that way back in the 1920s, but a modern refinery is far more complicated, that is only one step out of very many process units.

I know storing gasoline for a future time would require a relatively simple, but at greater labor and cost.

Gasoline does not store well for extended periods of time. In addition to the ethanol that absorbs water over time, gasoline contains some components that are going to evaporate out as well.

Because I use #2 heating oil (basically diesel), is there some way this product can be acceptably home refined to fire up an infernal combustion engine?

Do you have a home supply of crude oil you want to refine into diesel? Or are you looking to make diesel from another oil product?

Are you looking for a disaster plan or a way to become more economic. If the later, you need to be concerned about taxes, for the revenuers will be concerned and they do give significant fines to those that avoid their excise tax on fuel.

[Mr. K]

get yourself a diesel engine (I assume we are talking about being prepared for the zombie apocalypse)

you CAN actually make your own diesel fuel, and it looks surprisingly simple (many online instructions and youtube videos)

I can do anything once I see someone do it, so youtube videos have become my go-to for an incredible amount of this type of training material

skinning a dear, building storage, water filters, digging a well- I wish I could SAVE videos because when the zombie apocalypse comes I am assuming the ‘net will be down...

[Jonty30]

You have to learn to filter the oil of particles, as you cannot just pour it from the pan to the tank.

Creating gasoline is a distillation process. It’s not a process that you can easily do from home as the amount that an average person can create on his own would be very small.

Not to mention that it is also dangerous. Each gallon of gasoline, when pressurized is the equivalent of about 15 sticks of dynamite. You could easily, if you make a mistake, destroy the area that you are working it when trying to distill gasoline.

You’re far better off to store diesel in large storage tanks as diesel can keep for years, as I understand it. Whereas gasoline is really only good for a couple of months before it degrades to the point of uselessness for running vehicles.

[Lazamataz]

I can do anything once I see someone do it...

Exactly!

Which is why I now can menstruate, molt my skin, catch updrafts to glide effortlessly for hours, breastfeed, dislocate my jaw to swallow the pig whole, hold my breath for hours as I lurk on the riverbed, give birth, skeletonize a cow in 5 minutes, heat up to 750 degrees during reentry, and cause enough shadow to form a partial eclipse.

[thackney]

I use #2 heating oil (basically diesel), is there some way this product can be acceptably home refined to fire up an infernal combustion engine?

After reading through your responses to posts, I see you are after something different than I thought.

If you want to make gasoline out of heating oil, the answer is no, unless you are going to build a cracker, either thermal or catalytic. The diesel does not contain enough of the lighter hydrocarbon molecules necessary in basic gasoline. Those have already been removed from the crude oil stream during the refining process.

Also, as others have pointed out, modern gasoline contains some specific and necessary additives for your engine. If you got straight gasoline, as from the turn of the previous century, your modern car, if it would run, would only run for a while before becoming an expensive paperweight.

[Lazamataz]

I applaud the American ingenuity that has provided you with the appropriate prosthetic devices that enable you to see, type, breath and ... hmmmm .. live .... after storing your first Mason jar.

This is me grinning at that line....

[Eric in the Ozarks]

There were still charcoal powered taxis in Japan in the early 1950s.

[mountainlion]

The new centrifuge systems remove particles down to half a micron. Heavy equipment operations sometimes dump the engine oil into the diesel storage tanks and use a good filtering system. Some old timers did dump oil right out of the engine into the fuel tank. There are some service bulletins that suggest doing so. Don't let is set in the tank over a month as stuff will settle out into the bottom of the tank.

[SampleMan]

Sure, buy a diesel powered vehicle. Your fuel oil will burn just fine.

[Charles Martel]

You can save YouTube videos and burn them to optical discs... do a bit of online research. Start by looking at Firefox browser plug-ins.

[BipolarBob]

You would be better off attacking the problem at a different angle. Try using a large distiller to make pure (200 proof)alcohol. You may have to use zeolite to remove the last traces of water.

[cripplecreek]

You’re going to make a great news story someday. LOL

[MHGinTN]

That would explain you crispy appearance on occasion ...

[IronJack]

There’s probably not much you can do at home with the heating oil/diesel. But there’s nothing to stop you from buying a barrel of West Texas Crude and distilling it into the various -anes (hexane, heptane, octane) that make up gasoline. I don’t imagine it’s a very profitable venture but it is probably possible.

As long as the neighbors aren’t too snoopy and your building covenants allow for heavy industry.

[Mr. K]

you too?

[GladesGuru]

“I can do anything once I see someone do it...”

“Exactly!

Which is why I now can menstruate, molt my skin, catch updrafts to glide effortlessly for hours, breastfeed, dislocate my jaw to swallow the pig whole, hold my breath for hours as I lurk on the riverbed, give birth, skeletonize a cow in 5 minutes, heat up to 750 degrees during reentry, and cause enough shadow to form a partial eclipse.”

You good!

You better when a Keyboard Alert precedes such abundant goodness.

;-)

[John S Mosby]

My father in WWII was in Australia for several years, and Indochina and Phillipines. He told me in great detail (naval engineer style) about the Aussie buses powered during the war with wood gases. A critical element to the powering of the vehicle was the job of a local boy or aborigine-- to pick out of the "cooker box" the charcoal created by the cooked raw original wood pieces and transfer them by a little shovel into the burner heater below. They rigged up a little seat on the back outside of the bus (with a shade from the sun-- hot damn job) for the "stoker".

Here is the principle behind this setup-- far safer than trying to make gasoline!!: Charcoal burning conversion kits, which are really wood gas generators, enjoyed a brief civilian and military niche market in England, Germany, Australia, the United States, and other countries up to and during World War II. Wood gas generators were used to power taxis in Korea as late as 1970.

A charcoal burner actually burns the gases produced by heated wood. The burner is a two part system: a closed chamber with chunks of wood in it, and a charcoal burner to heat the closed chamber and make the wood generate gases by a process called pyrolysis.

Flammable gases produced by pyrolysis are then routed to a carburetor of sorts, mixed with air, and burned in the engine’s combustion chambers. Once the wood in the closed chamber has produced gases and turned to charcoal, it is transferred to the charcoal burner to heat the next load of wood. Some charcoal-fueled cars were designed to be started on gasoline, and would then be switched to charcoal once the vehicle was underway.

[fini]

LOL. Sounds good. I’ve also found that you need to store the jars at night beside the wood fire. That way it stays warm- almost as good as the sun on a hot day.

[Ellendra]

If you are looking to develop an energy source post financial collapse, I would advise you to look at natural gas.

If natural gas wouldn't be practical in your situation, woodgas might be another alternative. There are lots of websites with instructions on how to modify a vehicle to run on wood or charcoal.

Also, while it's not practical on a large scale, ethanol can work on a small, home-scale, being that it's just fancy moonshine.