Feedstock

The potassium-catalyzed version of AT’s biodiesel technology tolerates the use of crude vegetable oils containing lecithin at levels of up to 200 ppm without the need for classical degumming. Most common are oils from rapeseed, soybean and palm, but camelina and sunflower oils are also used.

Used cooking oils typically have an FFA content of about 3 to 7%. With our patented DADM method UCO can be processed without much additional equipment to give yields of close to 100%. The free fatty acids separated in the process are converted into their methyl esters using our proven esterification technology.

The use of animal fats of categories 2 and 3 in biodiesel production is subject to regulation worldwide. We have suitable combinations of pretreatment, esterification and transesterification processes with optional distillation available for their conversion into a final product meeting required quality standards (EN and ASTM).

Grease-trap fats arise in the food industry, commercial kitchens and sewage plants. Due to its high contamination levels this feedstock requires preliminary pre-treatment steps (purification, dewatering etc.) . In AT plants it then undergoes esterification respectively transesterification. An alternative approach is glycerolysis, in which grease-trap fats and oils as well as distillate fatty acids can be converted to a glyceride product for further transesterification.

Biodiesel production involves a great diversity of fatty acids, as is reflected by the wide range of FFA levels encountered, reaching from 15 up to 98%. AT offers a wide array of different esterification and glycerolysis methods for their conversion to biodiesel taking into account customer requirements as well as the feedstock mix in each particular case. AT's thermal glycerolysis technology considers no catalyst for completing re-esterification reaction. State-of-the-art heat recovery systems bring best economies in energy efficiency.