I am looking to run a large diesel generator on WVO which has been purified by a WVO collector to a standard of Max 2% impurities and 5% FFA. I am storing the WVO at +30degrees C and working in a warm environment all the time in the generator room.

Does anyone know what "nasties" require to be further filtered out of the oil before it enters the engine? Are the 5% Free Fatty Acids all potentially harmful acids or can some of them be safely combusted?

I have read that harmful acids from the cooking process are present and are locked up in any water left in the WVO. Presumably eliminating the water content is essential? Is it possible to test the oil for these acids and what are we looking for?

As far as the filtering of particles is concerned it seems that the final quality standard of 1 micron is preferred. Why is this level so low when many mineral diesel filters are based on 5 or even 10 microns before entering the engine? Is it that at these low levels the difference between 1 and 5 microns is miniscule?

Thanking you in advance for any help.

quote:

eliminating the water content is essential?

That is correct.
http://www.burnveg.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=72

I don't see the point of filtering to finer levels than the stock fuel filter does. I believe that this is preferred by folks who think "if some is good..more is better".

Water should be reduced to 500ppm or less (I prefer 300ppm). Invest in a Sandy Brea water testing unit and test often for water content. Your IP and Injectors will last longer if you do.

I have found that constant duty diesels run on VO (like pum ps and generators) tend to be more succeptible to piston ring/land/groove coking especially if not run near 70% capacity..or higher. I suggest considering adding timed propane fumigation to help keep piton edge cabon to a minimum on constant duty engines as well. 20-30 seconds every 15 minutes has worked well on the gensets I have been involved in converting.

I also suggest adding a tap to the crankcase oil system so periodic sampling of the lube oil is possible. Use this to regularly check for lube oil polymerization prior to any start up. If lube oil won't flow from the tap..don't start the engine.

Removing as much rubbish from your fuel as possible can only be a good thing for the life of your fuel system and injectors.

Filters are not " absoloute" in that they will remove every bit of debris they are rated to and many have a very wide level of tolerance. This means they are letting in an amount of rubbish they are supposed to remove and therefore doing damage and shortening the life of your fuels system and components.

Some in the veg game profess changing engine oil at half the reccomended intervals and some do it on any engine they run anyway. Many people running veg use multiple HE's line heaters and have a general preoccupation with heat even though it has been demonstrated time and time again this is not always nessacary. Filtering finer than the manufacturers reccomendations is one of those things that you don't have to do but it is no extra effort and there are only upsides and no down sides. It also should be borne in mind that these reccomendations for filtration were made by the manufacturers of the engine with Disel in mind. Had they been considering used veg oil, they may well have advised a finer filtration had they studied the contaminants that an engine would be dealing with when running on this fuel.

In this case, giving your engine extra protection requires no extra effort or cost, it is just a matter of using a smaller rated filter bag. In my experience, a 1, 5 or 10 Um filter bag all cost the same so why not go for the one that will give you the very best, cleanest quality fuel possible?
If it blocks quicker as I have seen some people argue, that just means it is doing its job and removing rubbuish that would otherwise be going through your fuel system. As far as I can see, the cleaner the fuel the less residue and buildup it is likley to leave behind and in an application where this can be a problem, I'd doubly want to be running the cleanest fuel I could do avoid this.

I have simple filtering/ drying system set up that allows me to filter and dry 150l of oil in around 90 min. it multipass filters the oil while it is drying it and there is no difference in filtering speed at any mic rating. This was a very easy and cheap system to set up that requires absoloutley minimal hands on time when running and removes any worry I may have in the case of engine trouble that it was the fuel. The fewer things I have to worry about with my veg mobile, the happier I am. When its no more cost or effort, why wouldn't you do the best you knew how?

In the case of a continous duty engine, i would be looking at a water injection system to prevent any buildup in the engine itself. this has proved to be very successful on a whole range of engines and in my experience and those of several others I know that run it, it is a huge safegaurd with engines run on veg. Again, there are huge gains to be made from very little effort and expense and well worth setting up.

DCS- Please provide a link to a description of your filtering system . - Thanks