Well, here is the problem:

Our company is running a couple of diesel trucks and diesel generators in africa.
Fuel is contaminated with dirt, water, waste engine oil and all kinds of chemicals being disposed in the fuel.

I know that we can't get rid of the solved chemicals or of the waste motor oil.
But I have to find a solution to get rid of the dirt and the water. Otherwise it continues to kill our engines.

Water is relative easy to filter out of the diesel.
The difficulty is the dirt. Filters are available, but expensive. So I'm seeking for a cheaper solution to:
- protect the engine from dirt.
- filter the dirt out of the fuel before the fuel gets into the vehicle or gen tank.

This can be a stationary method or portable solution. A power outlet is available.
I'm thinking of filtration better than the needed 3-5 microns.

Any ideas?

 

Couple of baldwin 1311 filter bases. The first filter is a 10 micron with water and the second is 2 micron.

I'm thinking it's going to be hard to pump through the 2 mic even with a 3/4 inch hose.

 

Well, thats a start.
I will organize an electric pump to push diesel through the filters.

Might a a centrifugal filter work with diesel?

 

it should. I mean I dont see why not.

 

i think a centrifugal filter will be your best bet. it is a one time purchase and some will filter to sub micron. otherwise you'll be constantly replacing clogged filters.

 

maybe use a t shirt and a funnel for the first filtration step
seriously sounds like you have some dirty freaking fuel

 

if i may ask, what kind of budget are you working with?

what about a whole house filter? cheap hardware store one will do 5 microns nominal and should last a while. will need a pump to push the fuel through though

 

I read good things about fuel filters made of .. toilet paper... stacks of them. A compagny sells the required set up . I recently met a guy in Florida who just love the system, installed abord his boat. He uses 2 filters in stack and it filters any dirty full of bugs fuel down to .5 micron(yes half of a micron!) without any problem at all. Better still, he uses regular toilet paper rolls much less expensive than any cheap filter. There are also same filtering concept using large paper napkin rolls for a very fuel polishing set up... Any body having experienced this kind of solution?.

 

In the case of the OP toilet paper filters might be very useful to them, because he is trying to clean up blends of odd used solvents and waste oils in Africa, so a whole house filter cartridge is likely to be difficult to come by, but then it sounds like his company may regularly order supplies for the USA, so they could add cases of filters to their order stream.

In his case I would use a centrifuge first, then run the cleaned fuel through a 1-micron bag filter. He is likely to have other problems with odd blends occasionally having a solvent that could damage the seal set inside the injector pump, or ruin the fuel hoses. Alcohol over 3%, lacquer thinner over 10%, and/or acetone over 20% will cause these problems.

 

Thank you, Beyond diesel. So this paper toilet thing is usefull in remotes countries with poor fuel!.
However,
The sailboat owner I met in Florida was quite happy about its setup of paper filters. It was a very professional installation, and he sais that he never had any problem with bugs(bacteria, and micro algae) ou other fuel problem since then. In fact, the fuel seems to polish itself while engine is runing by recirculating all the time. Sailboat don't use much fuel normaly(my engine uses less that a gallon an hour), altough fuel tanks are big(mine: 125 gal!). Since every sailor try to use its sails nore often than its Iron Sail, that implies that fuel stay a long time in the tank. On top of that some marina don't have the volume of a truck stop so bugs have the time to proliferate and cause problems. So I still wish to know more about the toilet paper solution.