High FFA

[scottefontay]

Two questions (four actually) [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]:

1) In anyone's experience, knowledge or guestimation is high FFA oil bad to use straight? Will it damage my injectors being acidic?

2) How complicated is the acid base process in practice? Anyone currently doing it?


Hugh, You were right even after a heated wash and a thourough drying the oil still titrated at 15-20 ml no matter how i did it. AND it smells awful [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/vomit.gif[/img]!!!!

[FozzyBear]

The oil we use at work has to filtered or changed when the FFA gets to 400. I have ran straight veggie oil(corn and soy) for the past year and had no problems. I have ram mixed till it got warm enough to run straight and put about 45,000 mile on my truck with no problems(except a little leak at the weep hole on pump). I am in the process of building a heated tank so I can run straight veg year around hope this helps.... I have 249,958 mile on the odom now

[Spencnaz]

Well I can't answer the first question on running high FFA WVO straight in a diesel engine.

There was a previous post a couple of months ago about soemone having scored/etched injectors from running WVO, I suggest you try to search for it.

As for the acid/base biodiesel process, just forget about it. It's not fool proof, time consuming and hazardous. I tried it once and spilled some of the sulfuric acid on my gloves. Needless to say, I ditched that process.

Journey To Forever has some good stuff on there, but their information on biodiesel ISN'T one of them.

Trust me on this one, stay with KOH/Methanol process that girl_mark advertises, simple is a good thing when making biodiesel on your own. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif[/img]

As for your high titration/smelly oil, sounds like to me that it's gone rancid.

I have one question though, in your titration, are you using NaOH or KOH. With KOH that is high, but with NaOH is WAY WAY too high for making biodiesel, but I"m sure someone somewhere has made fuel from that bilge. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]

[waterdude]

The main thing to consider with this soy oil is that it may have already gone through a fermentation process...fermentation occurs under anaerobic conditions. As a consequence, sugars are metabolized predominantly to volatile fatty acids (VFAs). Additional major products include lactic acid, carbon dioxide and methane.

I'm not sure what stage of the process that this oil was removed, but we also know that it is a byproduct oil mixure and not pure soy oil product.

Good try,

Hugh