ProPhorce^® AC 600 is the brand name of Perstorp's buffered formic acid. We use sodium to buffer formic acid. This has several important advantages over buffering with ammonia. In terms of performance the use of sodium has also proved to be beneficial. In tests conducted at the Cerzoo institute in Italy ProPhorce^® AC 600 clearly outperformed formic acid buffered with lignosulphonate (SoftAcid) on several zootechnical parameters.

Advantages of buffering with sodium
Perstorp is amongst the world's largest producers of formic acid. We buffer our formic acid with sodium (Na). The advantages are clear:

• It does not create formamide, which can occur when ammonia is used for buffering. 
• It gives the nutritionist the ability to manage the dietary electrolyte balance (dEB) in a positive way.
• The value of the sodium in the ProPhorce^® AC 600 is ± € 90,- as it delivers 4 mEq/kg per ton of feed, which is 25 % of the value of sodium bicarbonate.

Disadvantages of buffering with ammonia
Until a few years back it was common to buffer all organic acids with ammonia. However, the buffering of formic acid with ammonia has a few disadvantages:

• Ammonia cannot be energy neutral metabolized in mono-gastric animals such as swine and poultry. Ammonia is metabolized into urea. This metabolic process requires energy and that energy cannot be used for other processes such as growth or egg production.
• Ammonia can react with formic acid to form formamide. Formamide is known for its teratogenic effects. In practice this means that it is toxic and causes maluniformities in unborn foetuses of pigs and poultry.

Proven zootechnical results
In a test conducted at the Cerzoo institute in Italy we have looked at the effect of ProPhorce^® AC 600 on zootechnical parameters such as growth rate, feed intake and feed conversion ratio of post weaned piglets up to 6 weeks after weaning. In treatment 1 we used formic acid buffered with lignosulphonate (SoftAcid), treatment 2 was ProPhorce^® AC 600, treatment 3 was an unbuffered mixture of formic75/lactic25 (ProPhorce^® AC 503), and the last treatment was a mixture of (ProPhorce^® AC 600) with lactic acid (ProPhorce^® AC 602). The table below clearly shows that the growth performance of treatment 1 was significantly less than that of the other 3 treatments. At the same time ProPhorce^® AC 600 showed similar zootechnical parameters as ProPhorce^® AC 503 and ProPhorce^® AC 602.

	SoftAcid	ProPhorce® AC 600	ProPhorce® AC 503	ProPhorce® AC 602
Feed Intake (g/d)	558	558	570	548
ADG (g/d)	299	316	325	315
FCR	1.87	1.78	1.75	1.76

Feed Intake (g/d), Average Daily gain (g/d) and feed conversion rate of 4 different acidifiers

Using organic acids in animal production
The use of organic acids in animal production is well established. Organic acids have the ability to lower the buffer capacity in the stomach of young piglets. As a consequence they enhance the digestibility of protein by an increased pepsin activity.

In practical circumstances unbufffered organic acids are highly corrosive and therefore people and equipment need extra protection when pure organic acids are used. Buffering organic acids protects people and equipment from the harmful effects of pure organic acids. It can be concluded that buffering formic acid with sodium – as we do to create ProPhorce^® AC 600 - is the most effective way of working. It delivers excellent results without giving customers the negative effects of ammonia.