The larger molecules actually don't burn completely in an engine ether. This incomplete combustion is what leads to buildup on the head and piston of engines. Engine that use natural gas or propane are not plagued by this issue. The Generators do last longer but if you do a cost analysis its probably cheaper just to burn gas and just replace the gen when they go bad. This project was done just for fun and to prove a concept, like most things I do it probably cost me way more, but it was fun.
Might be worth doing here in Canada though. CF costs upwards of $25/gallon now (which is absolutely rediculous), and I read somewhere that the additives in our gasoline actually erodes the lining in the lantern's fount. Not sure how true that is though.
You're right, but kinda misleading. Carbon buildup can be from fuel that doesn't burn. When the fuel is floating around it hits the hot metal (kinda burns, but gets stuck) and turns into carbon. Most carbon buildup, imo, is from oil in the intake from the pcv.
Octane was originally a measure of the %age of the fluid that was C8H18 "octane" and above. This suppressed spontaneous combustion at pressure in an engine which is knocking. So a higher octane fuel is harder to ignite....however the higher the carbon chain the more energy per cc or ml of volume. Thus kerosene and diesel are harder to light liquid than gasoline which is harder to light than natural gasses. With sufficient cylinder pressure all the higher octane will burn....but if you have a standard compression engine "premium" is a waste of money and dirties your engine. Low octane is ideal for open flame or mantle flame in 1atm. This being mostly C6 and C7 has a very low octane. Pump octane today is typically boosted by adding ethanol which tests similarly to gasoline higher than C7.
Thank you for your responses. I had college level chemistry in high school, but back in 1977. I don't have my distillation charts any more. I used this knowledge in air pollution testing. I have looked at post on separating the ethanol first. Just wanted to know if it would distill in the process. I don't have access to a GC any longer so that is good information. Thanks again.
So it's been almost 3 years now since this was posted. How many runs have you made? And have you noticed any burn quality variation per each separate batch over those 3 years? Have you made any refinements to your rig or your process? And final question, what are you using this fuel in? Lanterns, cook stove, heaters? All of the above? I'd like to see them in a video being used :)
Greetings esplicar you could take advantage of ethanol to gasoline (mesclandolo with water) and if this is sufficient to achieve a quality suitable fuel for lamps, which is supposed to use dual fuel
Great video on the explanation of the setup! I was wondering if you can tell the difference in the end product dealing with shelf life over pump gasoline. Is it noticeably cleaner, doesn't go stale or varnish up as bad as the raw gas from the pump?
So shelf life would be a total guess, because I use it up very fast. I would guess that it would be longer as it is a lot cleaner than regular gas and the large molecular weight constituents are left behind. It also burns cleaner as the large molecules are typically responsible for coking up the generator. This is probably not the best to store for long periods as Coleman fuel has the anti-corrosion additive alox added to help prevent rust in steel founts. I hope I was helpful.
I bought a duel fuel lantern. It can use unleaded gas. Then I was told that I could use it my other stoves and lanterns. I have since and they always work fine with just unleaded gas.
Daniel Alamo you can it will only clog up the generator quicker. This just a fun project to demonstrate a concept. It’s good for people in foreign countries where Coleman fuel is not available or too expensive and they have old products that have very expensive generators. For people here with cheap fuel and cheap generators it doesn’t make since. It’s just fun to do.
How can I get this distillation machine. Can I add some acid activated bleaching earth to remove the odor from the white gasoline, since you said that is still taste like gasoline.
It's gasoline mostly(petroleum products) had a friend who tried methanol alcohol once and he said it has to burn hot to burn brightly...Something of that nature! He even did it once with lighter fluid but it was damn expensive!!
The little crank is attached to what many people call the pricker. It is a brass stem in the center of the generator with a very small piece of music wire on the top. When you turn the lever it goes up and down and cleans out the orifice jet at the top. The generator will get dirty with residue from use. The high boiling point components of gasoline will accelerate the process of gumming up the generator. That is the point of the distillation to get rid of some of the thicker components that gum up the works. it will still happen no matter what fuel you use, but distillation will help slow the process.
It's pretty much the same as regular Coleman fuel. I ran samples of it and regular Coleman fuel through a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and the makeup was very similar.
Good stuff. I'm wandering about doing the same thing with diesel fuel oil. Not sure if any of the oil would ever lift or boil though. Was thinking about making a cheaper lamp oil than kerosene. Way back when they use to make low compression ratio engines that we would get hot on gasoline and swap over to kerosene because it was so much cheaper to buy , now it's outa sight.
Comment and Question: At index 1:37 you indicate the fumes coming off are Butane, Pentane, other disolved HCs. No doubt. > Question: Wouldn't these technically provide some energy per gram? I.e. the energy content per gram, final product, Wouldn't it be slightly less energetic than the un-distilled base? > Question: Have you noticed a demonstrable difference in generator life? The additives are designed to burn away at auto cylinder temperatures. Is not the temperature in the generator comparable? I measured one of my generators with a remote-thermal gun: Gets upwards of 1000 degrees F, as does the iron mixing-manifold just above it. Is this not high enough to keep the generator pretty clean? Even with additives? > Question: Have you tried a timed run between known-mass of non-ethanol straight-from-pump vs known-mass of distilled unleaded? An aside - For my fuel: I had California ethanol fuel go bad in my truck -- moisture got in, the ethanol separated out (Ethanol ~~loves~~ water). After much cursing, I ended up with 12 gallons of liquid which, after settling a few minutes - CLEARLY showed the ethanol - gasoline separation. I decanted the gasoline portion and have been using that in my lanterns and lawnmower. No noticeable difference. Still has the additives & coloring. Lower octane rating, of course - but since I'm not using this decanted, de-ethanolled gas in non-performance engines - shrug - no great performance hits on the lawnmower. Moral of the story: If you have ethanol fuel that has gone bad... Not all is wasted: pour off the usable gasoline and use that in non-critical applications (Generator, lawnmower, small engines, solvent, etc.) (( I should have tried the ethanol in my primus stove!)) I did my decanting-pour with a 1gal rinsed+dried HDPE-2 milk jug. -- You can SEE clearly the separation line between the ethanol vs Gas.
How long will a generator last with plain unleaded gasoline? Can I still clean the generator using standard practices or will the carbon buildup be too excessive?
What's wrong with my lantern. When I light it yellow flames just burn around the mantle and rise up to the top vents? Is this too much pressure or not enough? I pumped it up for about a minute until you could feel a strong pressure on the pump. We had the generator apart before hand and blew it out with compressed air. We are using 20 year old white gas but I looked online and it seems like other people have no problems even with 30 year old white gas. It's been sealed all that time.
+KiwiPowerNZ too much initial pressure.. You only need enough to light the mantles. after mantles are lit the generator can warm up to atomize the fuel. let the generator warm up for a bit then pump to full pressure and open it up.
+KiwiPowerNZ Many times there are spider webs in the air intake tube. The only way to get them out is with a wire blowing air even with a compressor is not enough.
+S Heath It was a mason bee nest in the air intake. I cleaned it and it works excellent now but I caught mason bees in there making a new nest so I lit the lantern to burn them out but I'll have to poke in there again to clean it and its very hard not to break the mantle when cleaning it -_-
+KiwiPowerNZ Perhaps you could put some kind of cover over the lantern to prohibit them from making a nest. I have many with nest in them, but never built at my house. Always ones I obtained from elsewhere.
It must something with low number carbon chains. Oils and kerosene have too many carbons. 5-10 is good, bigger than 12 starts to get too hard to vaporize without a preheater.
+James Bacik The first fractions are the good ones that make the lantern or stove easy to light. You want to save them. The latter ones are the more complex molecules and are more apt to clog the generator. I compared the output of this run with that of Coleman fuel in a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and noticed I had more heavy constituents, so next run I may cut production sooner, like maybe 130 C or 135 C.
Any idea what the octane # is of your product? I use coleman fuel in my antique stationary hit and miss engines. Looking for a more economical fuel source. And where would one find plans for building the still?
Octane rating is difficult to determine but I have run samples through a Mass Spectrometer and the product is very close to Coleman fuel on the light end but there were more aromatic compounds in the gas than Coleman fuel. Based on my findings I will probably cut my endpoint back to about 135 C next run. There is no reason you shouldn't be able to run this in your engines. As far as plans I just made it up as I went. As long as all your joints are air-tight and you use good judgment you should be fine. You don't need all the electronics that I used, you can get by with a hot plate with an infinite control and a good thermometer. You just have to go slow and pay closer attention so you know when to stop heating. If you use several collection flask(mason jars) you can custom blend your fuel with as much light or heavy molecules as you like. Low boiling point equals low octane, just a rule of thumb.
There isn't much Butane in summer gas and very little in winter gas, probably not enough to bother with. The equipment to capture it would be far to expensive to justify.
@Barry White I run a Coleman 502 on my kitchen counter and I would never use gasoline because I don't want my kitchen smelling like a homeless encampment. I live in a decent house, by the way, it is just that I don't like running the stove and oven because all my canned goods are stored in the cupboard over the stove. So, I cook using my Coleman on the counter opposite the kitchen stove and its such a wonderful awesome stove that I might just go back on E Bay and buy a couple more 502's ! Some "fixer uppers", probably, because the one I use now I paid $110 in MINT CONDITION, but that kinda ruins the fun. I wanna fix one or two so I can say I did! LOL
@@judaspreistvlct Have you used naphta? I have a 425B and can't wait to spruce it up and test it out (plus have a supply of zippo lighter fluid). I also have denatured alcohol but heard it doesn't run that well in these. My wife is pregnant, and the fumes from kero (and gasoline obv) were a definite no for her. Alcohol doesn't bother her though.
@@matthewstephens7509 I wouldn't worry about the kero fumes as there is no benzene in it. Anyway, I tried charcoal lighter fluid in mine but it behaved like kero where I had to preheat the generator for awhile because I couldn't get it to light. As far as zippo fluid, which is mainly naptha will probably work and so will alcohol, but the alcohol might mess up your stove. Just try it outside away from your wife and home. lol! Good luck! Happy cooking! Just cooked up a bunch of sausage out front on the sidewalk yesterday and the 502 with Coleman fuel got the job done. Boy was it cold out!!
Can someone please tell me how is oil refined into fuels? First you heat the oil then is refined at a certain temperature? By any chance do you know if there is an easy way better then refining how you can turn oil to fuels or is that the only process?
+James Bacik I use ethanol free gas. If there is ethanol it will come out in the middle of your production. If you don't have access to ethanol free gas you can remove it with water extraction. Just add some water and shake, the ethanol will join the water and separate out from the organics. It is easily removed with a separatory funnel. I hope this was helpful
TrdShowAL No real plans just kind of made it up as I went. The pot is a freon can and the rest is iron pipe, copper and PVC. The heating is done with a 1000 watt hotplate.
The test for octane rating is kind of difficult unless you have the proper equipment, that is quite specialized and costly. So I can only guess that it would be quite a bit lower since the high boiling point constituents we removed are the main components that raise the octane.
I'm sorry for not responding in a timely fashion, but I just noticed your comment. I am guessing but I bet the octane number would be fairly low , about 50 or so, because the stuff that was left over is mainly the components that increase the octane of gas.
You can add toluene and benzene to the fractions that aren't the dregs it to make high performance gasoline. If you do that, you need to get REALLY decent working gas mask, some protective gear to block that stuff from contacting your skin, and you need to be careful as possible. For those who want to add up to 15% purified, dried ethanol, you need to blend in an additive called Ethanol Shield into it first like it says on the bottle, then add the ethanol to that final product.
You mentioned in another comment something about cutting it off at a lower temperature the next time you did it, I was wondering how much that increased the loss?
Jason Mitchell Jason I hate to admit it but I haven't made another run yet, so I'm not sure how much less I will get. The mass spectrometer indicated a few higher boiling point constituents that were not in the pure Coleman fuel, that was why I thought I would cut it off sooner. Its kind of a hassle to do so when I run some I usually do a bunch, that's why I haven't tried it at a lower point yet. If you are doing this and you keep your fractions separate you can make custom blends any way you want. The left overs can be used to start fires, I mention they were hard to light but they will burn kind of like kerosene.
Jason Mitchell I also want to remind anyone that does this to use good judgment. No open flames, everything airtight, and don't run the pot dry. Things like that.
I've built a distillery just like this. I used ethanol free fuel and I don't get any dregs. Also the liquid that comes out of the condenser still seems to be gasoline and not lantern fuel. Any thoughts on what could be wrong?
Peter You need to stop your distillation before it gets to the end boiling point, 150C or about 300F is a good end point to keep the heavy stuff out of your final product. The reason it still seems like gas is because it is. However many of the additives that cause trouble in lanterns have high boiling points and will be removed when you stop at 150C. The difference in smell has to do with some of the aromatic compounds that are in gas but not present in coleman fuel. Coleman fuel is gas also, it just lacks the additives that reduce detonation. Coleman fuel has an octane rating of about 50 and will run in engines with very low compression. I hope this was helpful to you, if you have any more questions fell free to ask I will help you if I can. Scott
You could use a nuwave in place of the standard hot plate but you would still need the thermocouple and PID. But you can just use a standard thermometer and manually control the nuwave.
+S Heath do you use the pid just so you don't have to sit and watch the temperature? or is there another functional purpose. aslo you said that next time you'd stop taking fractions at 135 degrees Celsius which is 275 degrees Fahrenheit is that correct?
That is correct, but I still sit and watch it for safety sake. I just don't have to watch as hard. Yes I intend to cut the fractions sooner because when I ran the gas chronograph mass spectrometer the distillate had a few high boiling point constituents that were not present in Coleman fuel.
I see no reason why you cant use an aluminum cooker. I usually distill 2000ml at a time and takes a little less than hour. The dregs have little value, I use them to start rubbish fires. They are hard to light, but will burn once lit.
Just put two/2 small drops of oil into the hole of the primer handle loosen up. Then pump prime it up.& twist tighten it backup to light then watch how much it improves the lighting.& burning quality afterwards. Good luck to you.& hope that fixes you right up on that little minor set back.
Yes I combined all the fractions in the end. I also ran the product through a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and compared it to proper Coleman fuel. The two were very close with the differences measurable but of little significance.
Greetings excellent video, friend be able to give me details about the environment tenperatura, I understand that you manage the vaporization of benzene at 30 ° c, I want to know if the brass tube inside the pvc pipe is straight or is screwed, thanks in advance
The tube is straight and the column on the tank is filled with broken glass. The end point is 155 C. That gets rid of most of the high boiling point liquids that will gum up the generator of your lantern. I hope this was helpful. Scott
S Heath thank you very much for your answer, which is what this glass filler? the bottle and the pipe where you put gasoline or pvc pipe which serves as coolant for the distillation.
Aristides Nuñez The broken glass is in the column on the top of the tank where the gas is heated. It acts like a fractionation column sort of. For it to be really effective it should be a lot taller. For the purposes here it works fine. I hope that helps.
S Heath Greetings and thank you very much, the container should also be filled with glass or just the standpipe. diamentro and height which is recommended for the pipe
Aristides Nuñez Just the vertical pipe. There is a stainless steel screen at the bottom of the vertical pipe to hold the glass in. The pipe is about 50cm.
Chris Beard Taste like gasoline, looks like shine though. Gasoline is really clear like water all the additives are what make it yellow or what ever some brands are red or blue.
Just buy a Dual Fuel Coleman Lantern for $60! You can use either Camp Fuel or Unleaded Gasoline, and you won't have to worry about blowing yourself up to make a $10 bottle of fuel.
+roostershooter76 It's not about saving money. This is just for fun and really not that dangerous. Walking across the street in any large city is far worse.
+roostershooter76 Dual fuel lanterns aren't really the answer. The gasoline will cause the lantern to need frequent generator replacements. The crap he's cooking out if just that, CRAP!!!!!
I would love to see the differences in the hardware of a regular Coleman and a dual fuel Coleman. All my Coleman stoves will run gasoline. Granted the components slowly gather residue. Very slowly. Considering these stoves were initially used for Military; you can bet they just instructed the soldiers to clean the stoves (disassembled) just as they would all other equipment. If anyone has a link to a comparison video please leave a link. Big respect for the video quality made here.
If all I have is a hotplate and no temp controls, can I just start low and slow to get to a certain percentage of distillate vs. dregs as an end point? If so, would you care to share that percentage with me? Could I just mount my thermometer in the top of my cooling tower and monitor manually, fine tuning my adjustments on the hotplate that way? Also, would you recommend adding ice in the condenser water for efficiency? Thanks!
First time commenter, long time subscriber to the page. Do you distill moonshine as well? I hear there is a demand in your area. I'll hang up and listen.
This was done for fun, so cost was secondary. But if you do the math its less than $4 per gallon. The electronics have other uses and the apparatus was made from junk, so the cost was minimal. Again this was just a fun exercise.
Most of the items were spare parts I had around the house. The container was a used freon tank. The condenser is just a copper pipe in a pvc pipe. The temp controler is available on eBay. There are many videos discussing the construction for other uses like heating ovens for knife makers.
If you don't have time for diy, I found good alternative. I'm buying it in hardware store in paints department. They sell it as "cleaning gasoline", "pure gasoline" (translated from German "Reines Benzin"). They sell it in metal bottles. It looks, smell and works virtualy identical to original Coleman fuel. It works greate on my Coleman stove (Peak 1). No bad smll, ashes etc. 1l cost ~3.5€ here in EU.
Great video! I do lots of fishing and camping. I have 5 duel-fuel Coleman Lanterns. I used to put regular gas in them until the generators started to clog up, no matter how much I maintain the unit. So I started using Coleman fuel purchased at Wal-Mart. The problem is this stuff is very expensive! Its $12.87 a gallon 😡👎
Walmart no longer sells Coleman; instead, they sell their own naptha - in the same similar-colored steel cans that Coleman sell their stuff in. The Walmart brand white gas costs about $7/gal.
Very good ! ! #sHeath , congratulations you for your technical skill and your chemical knowledge : that both are seldom to find in UA-cam video 's ! 2017-10-28
have you switched to Coleman's Dual Fuel lanterns yet? They burn un leaded gasoline as well as Kerosene (1-K is best as it has the least sulfur content so least odor and irritants). The switch will save you a lot of work.
I found this study of different fuels and the pollutants they make wen burned. A comparison of carbon monoxide levels during the use of a multi-fuel camp stove R B Schwartz 1 , D J Ledrick, A L Lindman Affiliations PMID: 11769918 DOI: 10.1580/1080-6032(2001)012[0236:acocml]2.0.co;2 Abstract Objective: The use of camp stoves in an enclosed or poorly ventilated space is clearly not recommended due to the risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Instances may arise, however, when use for a limited time is necessary. We sought to find differences in CO levels between various fuels used to power a commercially available camp stove. Methods: A comparison was made between unleaded gasoline, kerosene, and white gas (Coleman fuel). The stove, fuels, and CO detector were all purchased from local retailers. A 0.4-m3 space was constructed with a cardboard box. Three trials were performed using each fuel in which water was heated over the stove for 5 minutes. Measurement of the CO level within the box was taken every 30 seconds. Results: Kerosene created CO levels of 714 (SD = 113.5) parts per million (ppm) at 2 1/2 minutes but was out of the measurable range of >999 ppm within 4 minutes on each of its trials. White gas burned the cleanest, with an average of 212 ppm (SD = 27.8) at 2 1/2 minutes and 348 ppm (SD = 76.0) at 5 minutes. Unleaded gasoline created 305 ppm (SD = 27.1) at 2 1/2 minutes and 464 ppm (SD = 31.6) at 5 minutes. Conclusion: All of the fuels created a high level of CO in a short period of time. White gas burned the cleanest and would be preferred to unleaded gasoline or kerosene in the event that the unvented use of a camp stove was necessary.
@@Safety-3rd while the Naphtha is the cleanest burning fuel leaving the least contaminant to breath My concern is storage of Naphtha and smell if you spill it. Kerosene 1-k is safe to store as a combustible rather than a flammable Naphtha. I believe that Naphtha and white gas are similar Coleman fuel is so far as I am aware Naphtha and not white gas though the two names are often used as one and the same. The unleaded gas was a surprise for me as white gas is the purest form of gasoline having zero additives that said the unleaded gas was pretty close to white gas in the testing. Maybe you can make a super refined kerosene from stove oil or furnace fuel oil? Those are both cheaper than 1-K or 2-K kerosene.
@@morayjames92 I fancy kerosene, probably 1/4 to 1/3 of my collection is kerosene and they are the ones I burn the most. I ran a sample of the fuel I cleaned up in this process against Coleman fuel in a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and they were very close.
@@Safety-3rd There is a job waiting for you in a South American jungle! I am wondering why there is such a wide range of acceptably flash point temperature level with Kerosene (124F - 150F)? Is this also common with other fuels? Or is this specific to kerosene or because it only gets burned so much in lamps or as a fuel component in small engines and it makes little to no difference? I would have thought a cleaner fuel would be more popular.
Can you distill gasoline that has been blended with ethanol? It's hard to find pure gasoline these days. There's a station in town that sell high octane racing fuel that has no alcohol, but it's pricey, although not as pricey as Coleman Fuel.
You can separate the ethanol from the gas with water separation, that gives you about 90% reduction to start with before distillation. But if you cant find ethanol free gas it better than nothing. There is only one station in my town that has ethanol free gas. You might search the net to see if you can find it before you do water separation. Not that its that hard, it just takes time.
One wants to use the cheapest grade of fuel available that has the lowest octane. Racing fuel, avgas, and high octane fuels have additives that boost octane but also are difficult to vaporize and will clog the generator. as well as lead.
Most of the additives to increase the octane are also more complex and higher boiling point components and will be cut from the lower fractions. I'm not sure if the percentage would be more favorable or not. Maybe the next time I make a run I'll try some and see what the output shows. Thanks for the interest.
+Leonardo Fernandez Gracias viendo. La evaporación comenzó a las 23 centígrados y terminé a 155 centígrados. Pero la próxima vez que puede terminar en 140 C. Si usted tiene más preguntas estaré encantado de responder.
There is only one station in the town I live. There is a web site pure-gas.org you can see if there is a station near you. If you can't find a station near you, you can separate the ethanol out by mixing water with the gas shake it up and separate it after it settles. The ethanol will combine with water and then become immiscible and easy to separate out. The gas will be the top layer. Hopefully there is a station near you because separation is a pain. If you do it send a note and let me know how it goes.
Yes I did mix them together, I also saved the remaining stuff, but to date I've yet to come up with a good use for it. By the way the yellow remains are what gums up the carburetor when you don't use an engine for a while.
Skeets K they have a station in town that sells it. You can search the net to see if there is a station near you. If not you can remove it by water extraction.
+Skeets K Search "ethanol free gas" in Google. There are a few websites dedicated to providing lists of ethanol free gas stations. www.pure-gas.org/ They are getting more rare, but they are worth a short drive to get to them. A gallon of gas will give a few more miles per gallon than the ethanol contaminated fuel.
Sure, it will burn just fine. It will stop up the generator much quicker that Coleman fuel or distilled gasoline. This was just for fun and as a demonstration. It is also helpful to people in other countries that don't have access to inexpensive fuel for their lanterns. It is also cool to do things that most people think is dangerous, even if it really isn't all that dangerous.
In Italy, I found white gas for only $85 a gallon. I moved here in December of 2013.... I'm about to distill my first liter. All I need is a hot plate. Gas is about $6.50 a gallon. So far I've spent $15 in parts to make my condenser.
Of course use caution when doing anything like this. I test the setup with air pressure and soapy water. You may want to keep your fractions separate and blend them later. The higher boiling point fractions are the ones that cause trouble with the generator.
Nothing scientific about this comment, just FYI. I used a camp stove frequently as a Boy Scout at age 12 to 14. Now at age 48, while rummaging in the parents basement, I found my stove & a 1qt aluminum fuel canister of Coleman fuel, affixed with plastic lid. Curiously, I filled stove & lit. The stove worked perfectly for about a half hour until I shut it off with the 34+ year old fuel. I am convinced, that in the proper container, filled with minimum head space, this fuel has no shelf life.
Ethanol has some bad properties that make it unfriendly for use in lanterns. The least desirable is that it is very hygroscopic and if left alone will rust the fount. It is also deteriorates rubber like the cap seal.
I have not noticed any rust. If you were concerned you could add a little Alox 1846, that is the rust inhibitor used by Coleman. The spec says 28 grams per 1000 gallons.
There's somebody else out there that makes a chrome kerosene lantern,..... I ran across it looking at 8 wick cooking stove's. I prefer kerosene its not explosive. Gas is some scary shit.
Everyone is complaining about the cost of Coleman type fuel. It's anywhere from $8-14 a gallon a gallon lasts a long time. Sure you can convert to Kero and you will save 4-10 a gallon if you drag your kero can to the place with a kero pump. You'll also have more issues with the generator over time. A gallon of CF goes a long way. Also between the cost of the set up and tyhe cost of the gas, if this guy wanted to break even on this he'd need to process about 1000 gallons. But I don't think this was about the money.
asbestosfiber That is correct this was just for fun. But there are places around the world that coleman fuel is almost priced out of reach. One could probably replace a generator cheaper than build a still. Most of this stuff was scraps dredged up from the garage and the cost was very modest. Again this was done just for fun. Thanks for the comment.
In my country we can't find Coleman fuel at any price, your video is a really big help to the many of us living outside the US or Canada who own Coleman lanterns and stoves. The one positive aspect about the place where I live is that so far all gas stations carry ethanol free fuel. Thanks for posting the video.
You are correct, for the most part. Generators will not last as long, so one could just change them more often. The only way this would pay off is if the generators were very expensive and legitimate coleman fuel was unavailable or prohibitively expensive. Here in the US that's not the case but as most thing I do it was just a lot of fun.
The wire would oxidize and probable perish quickly or perhaps would be so costly we couldn't afford it. I bet it was tried back in the day when people relied on these in their home for light. I have seen some old adds for some made out of bamboo, not sure how well they worked.
John Young good point and they don’t cost a king’s ransom perhaps there is some other reason they don’t make them. Or maybe they just want to keep selling us the crappy ones.
Fascinating information. But this reminds me that it is possible to get twice the mileage from a gasoline engine using a catalytic converter driven by exhaust heat to reduce molecule size before it enters the engine. Such a mobile cracking process improves efficiency. The smaller the molecule the more thorough the oxidation. Of course timing changes or other modification to the engine is required. The military used such devices in WW2 to improve logistics. There is a surviving example of such a "carburetor" at Don Garlits Race Car Museum Ocala Fl. However one could not use such a device now with modern gasoline. The additives would clog the device almost instantly. I am of course referring to the dark leftover liquid in your process. The fact that car manufacturers do not use such device presently and that additives are being placed in gasoline that would thwart such devices sadly reveals much about this world. For example one would think that if they were so concerned about global warming and the so called effects of carbon dioxide emissions on the earth climate they would allow such technology to be implemented by the car manufacturers, as reducing world wide fuel consumption by 50% of all gasoline engines would obviously reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50% as well. In reality those that control energy consumption obviously have no desire do anything that might reduce consumption. Even more revealing is that in reality carbon dioxide emissions have less effect on the planet than we are told. Furthermore it is safe to say that we are not running out of petroleum any time soon either since petroleum is a natural geological abiotic process that occurs deep within the planet and is not energy from the sun. Much more can be divulged if one only takes the time to inspect the facts. It is blatantly obvious that we all live within the Matrix. "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false" --CIA Director William Casey February 1981 in a meeting with newly elected President Reagan.
geo dezix Point 1: Its called "how to make coleman fuel at home" so kinda hard to both do it at home and not do it at home. Point 2: I'd have thought the dangers are pretty obvious given the nature of the materials involved. Maybe just point out not to do it indoors though, since I'd guess a lot of folks wont be thinking about by-products IE: potentially explosive fumes.
ThePsiclone Outdoors definitely, no open flame. If everything is leak free, it is so rich that it can't burn. With the exception of the end of the condenser where you see the fumes, that's the danger zone. This is not for everyone, I guess I would suggest if your not sure what to do, don't do it.
You can also run your Coleman Pressurized Gas Device cleanly on Naptha or Xylene- Sold as "Goof Off"- But as this video shows using modern Unleaded pump gas in the Coleman will result in a gummed up lantern- and an awful smell.
white gas is pretty much naphtha, but people should stay away from xylene as much as possible. I use it at work, that stuff is extremely dangerous, not just because of it's fire risks, but more for it's health risks, it easily absorbs through the skin and bypasses the blood brain barrier. I've known many co workers that have died from complications related to xylene and more that are permanently disabled because of it
I have modified a lantern to use alcohol it works OK but not as well as light naphtha that is why I chose to distill gasoline. I just ran the distillate and Coleman fuel through a gas chronograph mass spectrometer and the results were as expected the gas had a lot of aromatic compounds that were not in Coleman fuel. One other thing I noticed that there were a lot less high boiling point constituents. The next batch I will cut it off at say 130C rater than 155C.
MNicehole Correct you can use gas in a dual fuel, however the generator will still clog up with the heavy components of the gas just not as quick as it would in a standard white gas lantern. To use methanol you need to use a larger jet if you want to try that I am sure you can get it to work. The reason for doing this is more for fun than anything else, but for some people the coleman fule is so expensive and spare parts for the lanterns are costly as well. It gives those an option that want to try it.
OK so you used a gallon of gas whats all this metric crap,you dont sound like your from across the pond,, sounds like your south of the Mason Dickson line
Skeets you guys just don't get it, the imperial measuring system is archaic and should be made obsolete. Metric is so easy that anybody who doesn't understand it must be pretty dumb!
someone will say 'oh imperial measurements got us to the moon' forgetting it was a german using metric who got you to the moon! lol, oh they did, old thread lol
so yes ken, you admit it, nasa is metric, one vendor wasnt, and caused the issue, metric has been the basis for all of science and engineering even though the external face might still be seen in imperial, it was metric underneath in production
Just love the resourcefulness of my fellow Americans. Great work fella too.
The larger molecules actually don't burn completely in an engine ether.
This incomplete combustion is what leads to buildup on the head and
piston of engines. Engine that use natural gas or propane are not
plagued by this issue. The Generators do last longer but if you do a
cost analysis its probably cheaper just to burn gas and just replace the
gen when they go bad. This project was done just for fun and to prove a
concept, like most things I do it probably cost me way more, but it was
fun.
Might be worth doing here in Canada though. CF costs upwards of $25/gallon now (which is absolutely rediculous), and I read somewhere that the additives in our gasoline actually erodes the lining in the lantern's fount. Not sure how true that is though.
what about someone building generators from more resistant metal? Or is the cost prohibitive?
Hense the higher price for Coleman fuel when compared to regular gas.
You're right, but kinda misleading. Carbon buildup can be from fuel that doesn't burn. When the fuel is floating around it hits the hot metal (kinda burns, but gets stuck) and turns into carbon. Most carbon buildup, imo, is from oil in the intake from the pcv.
Octane was originally a measure of the %age of the fluid that was C8H18 "octane" and above. This suppressed spontaneous combustion at pressure in an engine which is knocking.
So a higher octane fuel is harder to ignite....however the higher the carbon chain the more energy per cc or ml of volume. Thus kerosene and diesel are harder to light liquid than gasoline which is harder to light than natural gasses.
With sufficient cylinder pressure all the higher octane will burn....but if you have a standard compression engine "premium" is a waste of money and dirties your engine.
Low octane is ideal for open flame or mantle flame in 1atm. This being mostly C6 and C7 has a very low octane.
Pump octane today is typically boosted by adding ethanol which tests similarly to gasoline higher than C7.
Cool project, I learned a bit about fuel too. Thanks.
Thank you for your responses. I had college level chemistry in high school, but back in 1977. I don't have my distillation charts any more. I used this knowledge in air pollution testing. I have looked at post on separating the ethanol first. Just wanted to know if it would distill in the process. I don't have access to a GC any longer so that is good information. Thanks again.
You make it look so easy.
So it's been almost 3 years now since this was posted. How many runs have you made? And have you noticed any burn quality variation per each separate batch over those 3 years? Have you made any refinements to your rig or your process? And final question, what are you using this fuel in? Lanterns, cook stove, heaters? All of the above? I'd like to see them in a video being used :)
You'd have to be burning a whole lot of Coleman fuel to make this worth doing 🤣🤣
Very cool. Thank you for posting.
We need more people like you! The garage tinkerer may yet save America! (:
Greetings esplicar you could take advantage of ethanol to gasoline (mesclandolo with water) and if this is sufficient to achieve a quality suitable fuel for lamps, which is supposed to use dual fuel
Great video on the explanation of the setup! I was wondering if you can tell the difference in the end product dealing with shelf life over pump gasoline. Is it noticeably cleaner, doesn't go stale or varnish up as bad as the raw gas from the pump?
So shelf life would be a total guess, because I use it up very fast. I would guess that it would be longer as it is a lot cleaner than regular gas and the large molecular weight constituents are left behind. It also burns cleaner as the large molecules are typically responsible for coking up the generator. This is probably not the best to store for long periods as Coleman fuel has the anti-corrosion additive alox added to help prevent rust in steel founts. I hope I was helpful.
Pretty sweet rig
I bought a duel fuel lantern. It can use unleaded gas. Then I was told that I could use it my other stoves and lanterns. I have since and they always work fine with just unleaded gas.
Daniel Alamo you can it will only clog up the generator quicker. This just a fun project to demonstrate a concept. It’s good for people in foreign countries where Coleman fuel is not available or too expensive and they have old products that have very expensive generators. For people here with cheap fuel and cheap generators it doesn’t make since. It’s just fun to do.
How can I get this distillation machine. Can I add some acid activated bleaching earth to remove the odor from the white gasoline, since you said that is still taste like gasoline.
Excellent video. You organized your thoughts and cut out the fluff. Thank you for showing how a You Tube video should be done.
Brilliant what did you use for your boiler? Also does ethanol/denatured alcohol work in that style of lantern?
It's gasoline mostly(petroleum products) had a friend who tried methanol alcohol once and he said it has to burn hot to burn brightly...Something of that nature!
He even did it once with lighter fluid but it was damn expensive!!
A friend who is chemistry major just told me about 5 minutes ago it's lighter fluid (naphtha) .. white gas
Just got the the rest of the information
what are you turning after you say , clean out the generator?
i have a 1965 and it has that little thing you were turning ? what is that for? thanks
The little crank is attached to what many people call the pricker. It is a brass stem in the center of the generator with a very small piece of music wire on the top. When you turn the lever it goes up and down and cleans out the orifice jet at the top. The generator will get dirty with residue from use. The high boiling point components of gasoline will accelerate the process of gumming up the generator. That is the point of the distillation to get rid of some of the thicker components that gum up the works. it will still happen no matter what fuel you use, but distillation will help slow the process.
knowing my luck, I'd probably accidentally make a napalm bomb out of my lantern.
Qqw
Lantern Looney you gave me my laugh for the night
😂😂😂
Does it seem to burn cleaner, differently? Maybe less smoke at startup or less harmful fumes before or after combustion?
It's pretty much the same as regular Coleman fuel. I ran samples of it and regular Coleman fuel through a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and the makeup was very similar.
Good stuff.
I'm wandering about doing the same thing with diesel fuel oil. Not sure if any of the oil would ever lift or boil though. Was thinking about making a cheaper lamp oil than kerosene.
Way back when they use to make low compression ratio engines that we would get hot on gasoline and swap over to kerosene because it was so much cheaper to buy , now it's outa sight.
Try biodiesel Seems easy to make
ua-cam.com/video/8cZPP2at8HI/v-deo.html
That might be a fun think to try. Perhaps I'll try that next time.
Comment and Question: At index 1:37 you indicate the fumes coming off are Butane, Pentane, other disolved HCs. No doubt.
> Question: Wouldn't these technically provide some energy per gram? I.e. the energy content per gram, final product, Wouldn't it be slightly less energetic than the un-distilled base?
> Question: Have you noticed a demonstrable difference in generator life? The additives are designed to burn away at auto cylinder temperatures. Is not the temperature in the generator comparable? I measured one of my generators with a remote-thermal gun: Gets upwards of 1000 degrees F, as does the iron mixing-manifold just above it. Is this not high enough to keep the generator pretty clean? Even with additives?
> Question: Have you tried a timed run between known-mass of non-ethanol straight-from-pump vs known-mass of distilled unleaded?
An aside - For my fuel: I had California ethanol fuel go bad in my truck -- moisture got in, the ethanol separated out (Ethanol ~~loves~~ water). After much cursing, I ended up with 12 gallons of liquid which, after settling a few minutes - CLEARLY showed the ethanol - gasoline separation. I decanted the gasoline portion and have been using that in my lanterns and lawnmower. No noticeable difference. Still has the additives & coloring. Lower octane rating, of course - but since I'm not using this decanted, de-ethanolled gas in non-performance engines - shrug - no great performance hits on the lawnmower.
Moral of the story: If you have ethanol fuel that has gone bad... Not all is wasted: pour off the usable gasoline and use that in non-critical applications (Generator, lawnmower, small engines, solvent, etc.) (( I should have tried the ethanol in my primus stove!)) I did my decanting-pour with a 1gal rinsed+dried HDPE-2 milk jug. -- You can SEE clearly the separation line between the ethanol vs Gas.
The heaater looks like a slow cooker base.?
That is really cool.
impressive , so how would this compare to say Hydro treated Light (naptha) ?
I ran a sample of this and Coleman fuel in a gas chromatograph and though not identical they were very similar
How long will a generator last with plain unleaded gasoline? Can I still clean the generator using standard practices or will the carbon buildup be too excessive?
Yes you can clean it. It must be cleaned more often than with white gas. And the paper filter will get dirty faster
What's wrong with my lantern. When I light it yellow flames just burn around the mantle and rise up to the top vents? Is this too much pressure or not enough? I pumped it up for about a minute until you could feel a strong pressure on the pump.
We had the generator apart before hand and blew it out with compressed air. We are using 20 year old white gas but I looked online and it seems like other people have no problems even with 30 year old white gas. It's been sealed all that time.
+KiwiPowerNZ too much initial pressure.. You only need enough to light the mantles. after mantles are lit the generator can warm up to atomize the fuel. let the generator warm up for a bit then pump to full pressure and open it up.
+KiwiPowerNZ Many times there are spider webs in the air intake tube. The only way to get them out is with a wire blowing air even with a compressor is not enough.
+S Heath It was a mason bee nest in the air intake. I cleaned it and it works excellent now but I caught mason bees in there making a new nest so I lit the lantern to burn them out but I'll have to poke in there again to clean it and its very hard not to break the mantle when cleaning it -_-
+KiwiPowerNZ Perhaps you could put some kind of cover over the lantern to prohibit them from making a nest. I have many with nest in them, but never built at my house. Always ones I obtained from elsewhere.
I wonder if you can make it from other things like oil, veg oil, kerosene, etc?
It must something with low number carbon chains. Oils and kerosene have too many carbons. 5-10 is good, bigger than 12 starts to get too hard to vaporize without a preheater.
This is the bomb, ese.
Can it use for Platinum catalyst heater? Or in catalyst handwarmer
I see no reason why not, but it may be wise to test in an inexpensive one with easy to obtain catalyst that an antique or rare model.
Do you discard the first fraction and use only the second fraction?
+James Bacik The first fractions are the good ones that make the lantern or stove easy to light. You want to save them. The latter ones are the more complex molecules and are more apt to clog the generator. I compared the output of this run with that of Coleman fuel in a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and noticed I had more heavy constituents, so next run I may cut production sooner, like maybe 130 C or 135 C.
Any idea what the octane # is of your product? I use coleman fuel in my antique stationary hit and miss engines. Looking for a more economical fuel source. And where would one find plans for building the still?
Octane rating is difficult to determine but I have run samples through a Mass Spectrometer and the product is very close to Coleman fuel on the light end but there were more aromatic compounds in the gas than Coleman fuel. Based on my findings I will probably cut my endpoint back to about 135 C next run. There is no reason you shouldn't be able to run this in your engines. As far as plans I just made it up as I went. As long as all your joints are air-tight and you use good judgment you should be fine. You don't need all the electronics that I used, you can get by with a hot plate with an infinite control and a good thermometer. You just have to go slow and pay closer attention so you know when to stop heating. If you use several collection flask(mason jars) you can custom blend your fuel with as much light or heavy molecules as you like. Low boiling point equals low octane, just a rule of thumb.
The oct for doing this comes out at about 50to55 oct.
Do you think you get enough butane fumes to try setting up a recycler that burns it as a secondary heat source?
There isn't much Butane in summer gas and very little in winter gas, probably not enough to bother with. The equipment to capture it would be far to expensive to justify.
S Heath Is there a practical way to flare it off? Like the billions of cubic feet a year, around the Caspian sea.
Flaring is possible but is to no advantage and adds an extra level of danger that is unnecessary especially considering the small quantities involved.
I Think I will just buy Coleman Fuel from Wallmart
@Barry White I run a Coleman 502 on my kitchen counter and I would never use gasoline because I don't want my kitchen smelling like a homeless encampment. I live in a decent house, by the way, it is just that I don't like running the stove and oven because all my canned goods are stored in the cupboard over the stove. So, I cook using my Coleman on the counter opposite the kitchen stove and its such a wonderful awesome stove that I might just go back on E Bay and buy a couple more 502's ! Some "fixer uppers", probably, because the one I use now I paid $110 in MINT CONDITION, but that kinda ruins the fun. I wanna fix one or two so I can say I did! LOL
@@judaspreistvlct Have you used naphta? I have a 425B and can't wait to spruce it up and test it out (plus have a supply of zippo lighter fluid). I also have denatured alcohol but heard it doesn't run that well in these. My wife is pregnant, and the fumes from kero (and gasoline obv) were a definite no for her. Alcohol doesn't bother her though.
@@matthewstephens7509 I wouldn't worry about the kero fumes as there is no benzene in it. Anyway, I tried charcoal lighter fluid in mine but it behaved like kero where I had to preheat the generator for awhile because I couldn't get it to light. As far as zippo fluid, which is mainly naptha will probably work and so will alcohol, but the alcohol might mess up your stove. Just try it outside away from your wife and home. lol! Good luck! Happy cooking! Just cooked up a bunch of sausage out front on the sidewalk yesterday and the 502 with Coleman fuel got the job done. Boy was it cold out!!
Can someone please tell me how is oil refined into fuels? First you heat the oil then is refined at a certain temperature? By any chance do you know if there is an easy way better then refining how you can turn oil to fuels or is that the only process?
You have to crack the carbon molecules, distillation is the most practical way to do it
If the gas has ethanol, will it come out first with the first fraction?
+James Bacik I use ethanol free gas. If there is ethanol it will come out in the middle of your production. If you don't have access to ethanol free gas you can remove it with water extraction. Just add some water and shake, the ethanol will join the water and separate out from the organics. It is easily removed with a separatory funnel. I hope this was helpful
Well done. Have to try that. It's all about energy and Dead dinosaurs (fossil fuel).
Very Cool ! we'll have to call you Mr. MacGyver any instruction plans on this distilling rig of yours ? Thanks !
TrdShowAL No real plans just kind of made it up as I went. The pot is a freon can and the rest is iron pipe, copper and PVC. The heating is done with a 1000 watt hotplate.
Coleman lantern fuel is basically Naphtha right? (Cigarette lighter fuel)
That's exactly what it is. It also has a rust inhibiter to help keep the fount from corroding. I often use lantern fuel in zippos, it's a lot cheaper.
It would be interesting to know what the octane rating of the rerun is afterwards?
The test for octane rating is kind of difficult unless you have the proper equipment, that is quite specialized and costly. So I can only guess that it would be quite a bit lower since the high boiling point constituents we removed are the main components that raise the octane.
I'm sorry for not responding in a timely fashion, but I just noticed your comment. I am guessing but I bet the octane number would be fairly low , about 50 or so, because the stuff that was left over is mainly the components that increase the octane of gas.
You can add toluene and benzene to the fractions that aren't the dregs it to make high performance gasoline.
If you do that, you need to get REALLY decent working gas mask, some protective gear to block that stuff from contacting your skin, and you need to be careful as possible.
For those who want to add up to 15% purified, dried ethanol, you need to blend in an additive called Ethanol Shield into it first like it says on the bottle, then add the ethanol to that final product.
You mentioned in another comment something about cutting it off at a lower temperature the next time you did it, I was wondering how much that increased the loss?
Jason Mitchell Jason I hate to admit it but I haven't made another run yet, so I'm not sure how much less I will get. The mass spectrometer indicated a few higher boiling point constituents that were not in the pure Coleman fuel, that was why I thought I would cut it off sooner. Its kind of a hassle to do so when I run some I usually do a bunch, that's why I haven't tried it at a lower point yet. If you are doing this and you keep your fractions separate you can make custom blends any way you want. The left overs can be used to start fires, I mention they were hard to light but they will burn kind of like kerosene.
Jason Mitchell I also want to remind anyone that does this to use good judgment. No open flames, everything airtight, and don't run the pot dry. Things like that.
I've built a distillery just like this. I used ethanol free fuel and I don't get any dregs. Also the liquid that comes out of the condenser still seems to be gasoline and not lantern fuel. Any thoughts on what could be wrong?
Peter
You need to stop your distillation before it gets to the end boiling point, 150C or about 300F is a good end point to keep the heavy stuff out of your final product. The reason it still seems like gas is because it is. However many of the additives that cause trouble in lanterns have high boiling points and will be removed when you stop at 150C. The difference in smell has to do with some of the aromatic compounds that are in gas but not present in coleman fuel. Coleman fuel is gas also, it just lacks the additives that reduce detonation. Coleman fuel has an octane rating of about 50 and will run in engines with very low compression. I hope this was helpful to you, if you have any more questions fell free to ask I will help you if I can.
Scott
Pretty cool!
would a hot plate like the nuwave induction type work in place of the pid thermacouple?
You could use a nuwave in place of the standard hot plate but you would still need the thermocouple and PID. But you can just use a standard thermometer and manually control the nuwave.
+S Heath do you use the pid just so you don't have to sit and watch the temperature? or is there another functional purpose. aslo you said that next time you'd stop taking fractions at 135 degrees Celsius which is 275 degrees Fahrenheit is that correct?
That is correct, but I still sit and watch it for safety sake. I just don't have to watch as hard. Yes I intend to cut the fractions sooner because when I ran the gas chronograph mass spectrometer the distillate had a few high boiling point constituents that were not present in Coleman fuel.
+S Heath how bad is it to use an aluminium pressure cooker. how long does it take to distill 1000ml. and what do you do with the drags?
I see no reason why you cant use an aluminum cooker. I usually distill 2000ml at a time and takes a little less than hour. The dregs have little value, I use them to start rubbish fires. They are hard to light, but will burn once lit.
Just put two/2 small drops of oil into the hole of the primer handle loosen up. Then pump prime it up.& twist tighten it backup to light then watch how much it improves the lighting.& burning quality afterwards. Good luck to you.& hope that fixes you right up on that little minor set back.
Does it make it pump up faster?
The price of Coleman gas where I live is through the roof. Great video, did you just mix all the jars together in the end?
Yes I combined all the fractions in the end. I also ran the product through a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and compared it to proper Coleman fuel. The two were very close with the differences measurable but of little significance.
What watch are you wearing?
Accutron astronaut Buzz Aldrin edition
It's not as cool as the 60's astronaut but still sort of cool.
Greetings excellent video, friend be able to give me details about the environment tenperatura, I understand that you manage the vaporization of benzene at 30 ° c, I want to know if the brass tube inside the pvc pipe is straight or is screwed, thanks in advance
The tube is straight and the column on the tank is filled with broken glass. The end point is 155 C. That gets rid of most of the high boiling point liquids that will gum up the generator of your lantern. I hope this was helpful.
Scott
S Heath thank you very much for your answer, which is what this glass filler? the bottle and the pipe where you put gasoline or pvc pipe which serves as coolant for the distillation.
Aristides Nuñez The broken glass is in the column on the top of the tank where the gas is heated. It acts like a fractionation column sort of. For it to be really effective it should be a lot taller. For the purposes here it works fine. I hope that helps.
S Heath Greetings and thank you very much, the container should also be filled with glass or just the standpipe. diamentro and height which is recommended for the pipe
Aristides Nuñez Just the vertical pipe. There is a stainless steel screen at the bottom of the vertical pipe to hold the glass in. The pipe is about 50cm.
How does the end product taste?
Chris Beard Taste like gasoline, looks like shine though. Gasoline is really clear like water all the additives are what make it yellow or what ever some brands are red or blue.
Excellent
Hats off...not bad👍👍
Just buy a Dual Fuel Coleman Lantern for $60! You can use either Camp Fuel or Unleaded Gasoline, and you won't have to worry about blowing yourself up to make a $10 bottle of fuel.
+roostershooter76 It's not about saving money. This is just for fun and really not that dangerous. Walking across the street in any large city is far worse.
+roostershooter76 Dual fuel lanterns aren't really the answer. The gasoline will cause the lantern to need frequent generator replacements. The crap he's cooking out if just that, CRAP!!!!!
I would love to see the differences in the hardware of a regular Coleman and a dual fuel Coleman. All my Coleman stoves will run gasoline. Granted the components slowly gather residue. Very slowly. Considering these stoves were initially used for Military; you can bet they just instructed the soldiers to clean the stoves (disassembled) just as they would all other equipment. If anyone has a link to a comparison video please leave a link. Big respect for the video quality made here.
If all I have is a hotplate and no temp controls, can I just start low and slow to get to a certain percentage of distillate vs. dregs as an end point? If so, would you care to share that percentage with me? Could I just mount my thermometer in the top of my cooling tower and monitor manually, fine tuning my adjustments on the hotplate that way? Also, would you recommend adding ice in the condenser water for efficiency? Thanks!
First time commenter, long time subscriber to the page. Do you distill moonshine as well? I hear there is a demand in your area. I'll hang up and listen.
We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too, there aint too many things these old boys can't do.
Yes, but how cost effective this?
This was done for fun, so cost was secondary. But if you do the math its less than $4 per gallon. The electronics have other uses and the apparatus was made from junk, so the cost was minimal. Again this was just a fun exercise.
But where do you get all the right piece's to do this.
Most of the items were spare parts I had around the house. The container was a used freon tank. The condenser is just a copper pipe in a pvc pipe. The temp controler is available on eBay. There are many videos discussing the construction for other uses like heating ovens for knife makers.
@@Safety-3rd thanks
If you don't have time for diy, I found good alternative. I'm buying it in hardware store in paints department. They sell it as "cleaning gasoline", "pure gasoline" (translated from German "Reines Benzin"). They sell it in metal bottles. It looks, smell and works virtualy identical to original Coleman fuel. It works greate on my Coleman stove (Peak 1). No bad smll, ashes etc. 1l cost ~3.5€ here in EU.
Gregor Čepek How much is Coleman fuel there?
S Heath ~6€ for 1l
Sounds like low/no odor mineral spirits, as they call it in the U.S.
Great video! I do lots of fishing and camping. I have 5 duel-fuel Coleman Lanterns. I used to put regular gas in them until the generators started to clog up, no matter how much I maintain the unit. So I started using Coleman fuel purchased at Wal-Mart. The problem is this stuff is very expensive!
Its $12.87 a gallon 😡👎
Walmart no longer sells Coleman; instead, they sell their own naptha - in the same similar-colored steel cans that Coleman sell their stuff in. The Walmart brand white gas costs about $7/gal.
Spend $20 for parts to convert your lanterns to kerosene and skip all this white gas nonsense.
@AYE OK SURE I have kerosene heaters for my home. It's easier to keep one fuel around for both. Kerosene conversions are cheap & easy to manage.
Very good ! ! #sHeath ,
congratulations you for your technical skill and your chemical knowledge : that both are seldom to find in UA-cam video 's !
2017-10-28
Ernst Lessau thank you for your kind words.
have you switched to Coleman's Dual Fuel lanterns yet? They burn un leaded gasoline as well as Kerosene (1-K is best as it has the least sulfur content so least odor and irritants). The switch will save you a lot of work.
I found this study of different fuels and the pollutants they make wen burned.
A comparison of carbon monoxide levels during the use of a multi-fuel camp stove
R B Schwartz 1 , D J Ledrick, A L Lindman
Affiliations
PMID: 11769918 DOI: 10.1580/1080-6032(2001)012[0236:acocml]2.0.co;2
Abstract
Objective: The use of camp stoves in an enclosed or poorly ventilated space is clearly not recommended due to the risk of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Instances may arise, however, when use for a limited time is necessary. We sought to find differences in CO levels between various fuels used to power a commercially available camp stove.
Methods: A comparison was made between unleaded gasoline, kerosene, and white gas (Coleman fuel). The stove, fuels, and CO detector were all purchased from local retailers. A 0.4-m3 space was constructed with a cardboard box. Three trials were performed using each fuel in which water was heated over the stove for 5 minutes. Measurement of the CO level within the box was taken every 30 seconds.
Results: Kerosene created CO levels of 714 (SD = 113.5) parts per million (ppm) at 2 1/2 minutes but was out of the measurable range of >999 ppm within 4 minutes on each of its trials. White gas burned the cleanest, with an average of 212 ppm (SD = 27.8) at 2 1/2 minutes and 348 ppm (SD = 76.0) at 5 minutes. Unleaded gasoline created 305 ppm (SD = 27.1) at 2 1/2 minutes and 464 ppm (SD = 31.6) at 5 minutes.
Conclusion: All of the fuels created a high level of CO in a short period of time. White gas burned the cleanest and would be preferred to unleaded gasoline or kerosene in the event that the unvented use of a camp stove was necessary.
I just did this to have something to do. White gas is pretty inexpensive here. Thanks for the research info I'll check it out.
@@Safety-3rd while the Naphtha is the cleanest burning fuel leaving the least contaminant to breath My concern is storage of Naphtha and smell if you spill it. Kerosene 1-k is safe to store as a combustible rather than a flammable Naphtha. I believe that Naphtha and white gas are similar Coleman fuel is so far as I am aware Naphtha and not white gas though the two names are often used as one and the same. The unleaded gas was a surprise for me as white gas is the purest form of gasoline having zero additives that said the unleaded gas was pretty close to white gas in the testing. Maybe you can make a super refined kerosene from stove oil or furnace fuel oil? Those are both cheaper than 1-K or 2-K kerosene.
@@morayjames92 I fancy kerosene, probably 1/4 to 1/3 of my collection is kerosene and they are the ones I burn the most. I ran a sample of the fuel I cleaned up in this process against Coleman fuel in a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer and they were very close.
@@Safety-3rd There is a job waiting for you in a South American jungle! I am wondering why there is such a wide range of acceptably flash point temperature level with Kerosene (124F - 150F)? Is this also common with other fuels? Or is this specific to kerosene or because it only gets burned so much in lamps or as a fuel component in small engines and it makes little to no difference? I would have thought a cleaner fuel would be more popular.
What did you do with that last yellow remainder?
I just put them in a jar. I'm saving them because I save everything. I don't think they will have any use, but if they do I got them.
basicaly its a type of kerosene you can probably use it in kerosene lamps outside :-)
I think the yellow remainder could be the heavy carbon chain diesel and additives
You are correct the longer chain and more complex substances typically have high boiling points.
Very good, #sHeath , congratulations you for your technical skill and your chemical knowledge : that both are seldom to find in UA-cam video 's !
Can you distill gasoline that has been blended with ethanol? It's hard to find pure gasoline these days. There's a station in town that sell high octane racing fuel that has no alcohol, but it's pricey, although not as pricey as Coleman Fuel.
You can separate the ethanol from the gas with water separation, that gives you about 90% reduction to start with before distillation. But if you cant find ethanol free gas it better than nothing. There is only one station in my town that has ethanol free gas. You might search the net to see if you can find it before you do water separation. Not that its that hard, it just takes time.
Some grades of racing fuel are leaded, so make sure you know if it is. MAKE SURE.
One wants to use the cheapest grade of fuel available that has the lowest octane. Racing fuel, avgas, and high octane fuels have additives that boost octane but also are difficult to vaporize and will clog the generator. as well as lead.
Some of the premium gasoline's do not have alcohol in them
Most of the additives to increase the octane are also more complex and higher boiling point components and will be cut from the lower fractions. I'm not sure if the percentage would be more favorable or not. Maybe the next time I make a run I'll try some and see what the output shows. Thanks for the interest.
At what temperature did you distil gasoline?
I stopped at 155 C. I could have stopped at a lower temp but that would have reduced the output.
@@Safety-3rd thank you very much for your reply! Regards from Argentina.
Hi, I Hispanic, Could you tell me the evaporation temperature? because i listen and listen but i am not able to understand
+Leonardo Fernandez Gracias viendo. La evaporación comenzó a las 23
centígrados y terminé a 155 centígrados. Pero la próxima vez que puede terminar
en 140 C. Si usted tiene más preguntas estaré encantado de
responder.
thank you very much , I appreciate your response especially in my language, I give you ten stars.
+Leonardo Fernandez Head for the border, muchaco.....................
+Jeff Parris ......slogan? what is it mean , hermano
Where do you find gas with out the ethanol?
There is only one station in the town I live. There is a web site pure-gas.org you can see if there is a station near you. If you can't find a station near you, you can separate the ethanol out by mixing water with the gas shake it up and separate it after it settles. The ethanol will combine with water and then become immiscible and easy to separate out. The gas will be the top layer. Hopefully there is a station near you because separation is a pain. If you do it send a note and let me know how it goes.
looks like u r making moomshine lol
Did you mix all fractions together to get the final product?
Yes I did mix them together, I also saved the remaining stuff, but to date I've yet to come up with a good use for it. By the way the yellow remains are what gums up the carburetor when you don't use an engine for a while.
@@Safety-3rd cool. Im going to build something similar this summer. Half for fun, half to save on white gas. Do the leftovers burn at all?
@@KC9RXP Funny but I haven't tried to burn it. I'm guessing but I would bet it does and is probably hard to light due to the higher boiling point.
@@Safety-3rd im thinking if its even near kerosene or diesel, you could use it as fire starter or run a waste oil burner on it.
@@KC9RXP I still have it. I will try and burn it and let you know what the results are.
Where are you finding ethanol free gas???
Skeets K they have a station in town that sells it. You can search the net to see if there is a station near you. If not you can remove it by water extraction.
+Skeets K Search "ethanol free gas" in Google. There are a few websites dedicated to providing lists of ethanol free gas stations. www.pure-gas.org/ They are getting more rare, but they are worth a short drive to get to them. A gallon of gas will give a few more miles per gallon than the ethanol contaminated fuel.
Some gas stations have it and airports have it.
Cost more per gallon.
WAWA sells it here in the Orlando area. Also, i was in MN/WI area a few months ago and Holiday gas stations had it up there.
Look at any large marina. Most smart owners run ethanol free gas in their outboards.
Love the idea... like the video... any phone calls from opec? ;-)
can you burn just gas fuel in a Coleman
Sure, it will burn just fine. It will stop up the generator much quicker that Coleman fuel or distilled gasoline. This was just for fun and as a demonstration. It is also helpful to people in other countries that don't have access to inexpensive fuel for their lanterns. It is also cool to do things that most people think is dangerous, even if it really isn't all that dangerous.
In Italy, I found white gas for only $85 a gallon. I moved here in December of 2013.... I'm about to distill my first liter. All I need is a hot plate. Gas is about $6.50 a gallon. So far I've spent $15 in parts to make my condenser.
Of course use caution when doing anything like this. I test the setup with air pressure and soapy water. You may want to keep your fractions separate and blend them later. The higher boiling point fractions are the ones that cause trouble with the generator.
How about instruction on building the distiller yea I saw yours work that doesn't help me any.I need to know how to build one.
Nothing scientific about this comment, just FYI. I used a camp stove frequently as a Boy Scout at age 12 to 14. Now at age 48, while rummaging in the parents basement, I found my stove & a 1qt aluminum fuel canister of Coleman fuel, affixed with plastic lid. Curiously, I filled stove & lit. The stove worked perfectly for about a half hour until I shut it off with the 34+ year old fuel. I am convinced, that in the proper container, filled with minimum head space, this fuel has no shelf life.
Sorry but why would you do this when these lanterns perfectly run on regular gasoline ?
Just for fun
@@Safety-3rd ok...
I don't have much issue with burning gasoline outdoors in a lantern but when it comes to cooking food, gasoline is out for me.
why ethanol free? just curious
Ethanol has some bad properties that make it unfriendly for use in
lanterns. The least desirable is that it is very hygroscopic and if left
alone will rust the fount. It is also deteriorates rubber like the cap
seal.
Crown and Coleman allege to add a rust inhibitor to their fuels. Have you noticed any rust in your lanterns?
I have not noticed any rust. If you were concerned you could add a little Alox 1846, that is the rust inhibitor used by Coleman. The spec says 28 grams per 1000 gallons.
I'm fascinated by how much crap is added to the pump gas..
Try running your car on Coleman fuel for a bit then get back to me on whether or not the added stuff in street fuel is "crap" 😂😂😂😂😂
I would think it would be way cheaper to buy a duel-fuel lantern or stove.
It was done mostly for fun
There's somebody else out there that makes a chrome kerosene lantern,..... I ran across it looking at 8 wick cooking stove's.
I prefer kerosene its not explosive.
Gas is some scary shit.
Nakoa Warrior I like kerosene too I have several German and British. They seem to prefer kerosene for the same reason.
I love the folks smoking at the gas pump filling their car.
If you could capture the butane, it would be better.
November 2020: What did he do with the gunk left behind in the supply vessel? Toxic crap left behind....
I still have it in a bottle. Not sure if I may need it for something later.
Everyone is complaining about the cost of Coleman type fuel. It's anywhere from $8-14 a gallon a gallon lasts a long time. Sure you can convert to Kero and you will save 4-10 a gallon if you drag your kero can to the place with a kero pump. You'll also have more issues with the generator over time. A gallon of CF goes a long way. Also between the cost of the set up and tyhe cost of the gas, if this guy wanted to break even on this he'd need to process about 1000 gallons. But I don't think this was about the money.
asbestosfiber That is correct this was just for fun. But there are places around the world that coleman fuel is almost priced out of reach. One could probably replace a generator cheaper than build a still. Most of this stuff was scraps dredged up from the garage and the cost was very modest. Again this was done just for fun. Thanks for the comment.
In my country we can't find Coleman fuel at any price, your video is a really big help to the many of us living outside the US or Canada who own Coleman lanterns and stoves. The one positive aspect about the place where I live is that so far all gas stations carry ethanol free fuel. Thanks for posting the video.
So just make 180 proof moonshine and run it in their? OK. 😛
Are you NUTZ??? 😦🤣
Normal unleded car petrol will do the job just fine
You are correct, for the most part. Generators will not last as long, so one could just change them more often. The only way this would pay off is if the generators were very expensive and legitimate coleman fuel was unavailable or prohibitively expensive. Here in the US that's not the case but as most thing I do it was just a lot of fun.
@@Safety-3rd And having fun is the best thing to have,, succes "-)
...you have a heck of a lot more nerve than I do-!!!
Has anyone ever invented a lantern mantle that doesn't break?
John Young No they all break some are stronger than others. It may be my imagination but I fell like the old ones are stronger.
@@Safety-3rd Seems like there ought to be a way of making a wire mesh mantle coated with the appropriate catalyst.
The wire would oxidize and probable perish quickly or perhaps would be so costly we couldn't afford it. I bet it was tried back in the day when people relied on these in their home for light. I have seen some old adds for some made out of bamboo, not sure how well they worked.
@@Safety-3rd And yet, those Buddy heaters have wires that last presumably a long time...
John Young good point and they don’t cost a king’s ransom perhaps there is some other reason they don’t make them. Or maybe they just want to keep selling us the crappy ones.
I just put straight gas in my Colman lantern
That is easy and cheep. This was just for the fun and to prove I could do it.
Fascinating information. But this reminds me that it is possible to get twice the mileage from a gasoline engine using a catalytic converter driven by exhaust heat to reduce molecule size before it enters the engine. Such a mobile cracking process improves efficiency. The smaller the molecule the more thorough the oxidation. Of course timing changes or other modification to the engine is required. The military used such devices in WW2 to improve logistics. There is a surviving example of such a "carburetor" at Don Garlits Race Car Museum Ocala Fl. However one could not use such a device now with modern gasoline. The additives would clog the device almost instantly. I am of course referring to the dark leftover liquid in your process. The fact that car manufacturers do not use such device presently and that additives are being placed in gasoline that would thwart such devices sadly reveals much about this world. For example one would think that if they were so concerned about global warming and the so called effects of carbon dioxide emissions on the earth climate they would allow such technology to be implemented by the car manufacturers, as reducing world wide fuel consumption by 50% of all gasoline engines would obviously reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50% as well. In reality those that control energy consumption obviously have no desire do anything that might reduce consumption. Even more revealing is that in reality carbon dioxide emissions have less effect on the planet than we are told. Furthermore it is safe to say that we are not running out of petroleum any time soon either since petroleum is a natural geological abiotic process that occurs deep within the planet and is not energy from the sun. Much more can be divulged if one only takes the time to inspect the facts. It is blatantly obvious that we all live within the Matrix. "We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false" --CIA Director William Casey February 1981 in a meeting with newly elected President Reagan.
Seems like somewhere along the way you'd tell people: "Don't try this at home!" This is very dangerous
I'm old school. If one uses good judgement and exercises caution it is really not that bad.
geo dezix Point 1: Its called "how to make coleman fuel at home" so kinda hard to both do it at home and not do it at home. Point 2: I'd have thought the dangers are pretty obvious given the nature of the materials involved. Maybe just point out not to do it indoors though, since I'd guess a lot of folks wont be thinking about by-products IE: potentially explosive fumes.
ThePsiclone Outdoors definitely, no open flame. If everything is leak free, it is so rich that it can't burn. With the exception of the end of the condenser where you see the fumes, that's the danger zone. This is not for everyone, I guess I would suggest if your not sure what to do, don't do it.
I run gas anyway it works fine
That was completely useless. Unleaded gas works fine in Coleman lanterns.
You can also run your Coleman Pressurized Gas Device cleanly on Naptha or Xylene- Sold as "Goof Off"- But as this video shows using modern Unleaded pump gas in the Coleman will result in a gummed up lantern- and an awful smell.
white gas is pretty much naphtha, but people should stay away from xylene as much as possible. I use it at work, that stuff is extremely dangerous, not just because of it's fire risks, but more for it's health risks, it easily absorbs through the skin and bypasses the blood brain barrier. I've known many co workers that have died from complications related to xylene and more that are permanently disabled because of it
can't U use methanol fuel
I have modified a lantern to use alcohol it works OK but not as well as light naphtha that is why I chose to distill gasoline. I just ran the distillate and Coleman fuel through a gas chronograph mass spectrometer and the results were as expected the gas had a lot of aromatic compounds that were not in Coleman fuel. One other thing I noticed that there were a lot less high boiling point constituents. The next batch I will cut it off at say 130C rater than 155C.
I tried methanol, it lit and goes out. ? Duel fuel means you can use gas also.
MNicehole
Correct you can use gas in a dual fuel, however the generator will still clog up with the heavy components of the gas just not as quick as it would in a standard white gas lantern. To use methanol you need to use a larger jet if you want to try that I am sure you can get it to work. The reason for doing this is more for fun than anything else, but for some people the coleman fule is so expensive and spare parts for the lanterns are costly as well. It gives those an option that want to try it.
I'll play with it and get back to you all on the hole size.
if you are using a single mantle lantern try the jet for a two mantle, that's what I used. Jet for a 220 in a 200A
Not exactly comprehensive.
OK so you used a gallon of gas whats all this metric crap,you dont sound like your from across the pond,, sounds like your south of the Mason Dickson line
dunno, perhaps he isnt a caveman and uses the measuring method the world uses (and the guy who got you to the moon, a german, used metric, von braun)
Yes ken, go read up, nasa went metric
Skeets you guys just don't get it, the imperial measuring system is archaic and should be made obsolete. Metric is so easy that anybody who doesn't understand it must be pretty dumb!
someone will say 'oh imperial measurements got us to the moon' forgetting it was a german using metric who got you to the moon! lol, oh they did, old thread lol
so yes ken, you admit it, nasa is metric, one vendor wasnt, and caused the issue, metric has been the basis for all of science and engineering even though the external face might still be seen in imperial, it was metric underneath in production