Vinegar and FFA's?

[Red Angus]

I have read some articles etc on acid washing and the down side of something to do with FFA's. Is this such a problem if it greatly reduces the glycerine level in biodiesel......What exactly do the FfA's do to engine...and is there any research that gives any idea of a time-frame for major damage to occur. I guess this could be hard to pin down, but I am wondering if such damage only slowly occurs over quite a few years before causing engine failure(or whatever it leads to)...then I would rather live with and drasticly reduce glycerine levels in bio. I would appreciate any thoughts on this . Cheers.

[Tony From West Oz]

Re: Vinegar and FFA's?

While acid washing of biodiesel may cause some reverse reaction if methanol is present, it will cause some soaps to revert back to fatty acids in the biodiesel.

The effect of free fatty acids on diesel engines is not known for any engine, and negligible information is held on most diesels.

It is worth considering those who use minimally processed used vegetable oils as fuel, only ensuring that the oil is water free and filtered. Very few of these engines are failing rapidly, and many are covering hundreds of thousands of kilometers with no noticable degradation in the long term.

The minute amount of FFA caused by acid washing, to improve the water wash would not seem to be a major problem.

Ensuring that the biodiesel is effectively dewatered would seem to be a greater concern.

In fact, there are many people who do not wash their biodiesel, simply removing the residual methanol and allowing the glycerol and other byproducts to settle out, before decanting off the fuel for use.

Regards,
Tony