BioDiesel-Vegetable

Unlike many biofuel producers HIBPCI only process waste vegetable oils and animal fats to produce a truly sustainable biofuel that far exceeds the criteria required by the Renewable Transport Fuel Order (RTFO) EU-Renewable Energy Directive (EU-RED) , Renewable Obligation Certificates  (ROCs) and the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for fuels used in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants.bottles

 

Renewable Fuels

Biodiesel production is the process of producing biodiesel through transesterification.

Simply put it is the process of reacting vegetable oils or animal fats catalytically with a short chain aliphatic alcohol such as methanol or ethanol. Methanol produces methyl esters and ethanol produces ethyl esters. The reaction is catalyzed by ether potassium or sodium hydroxide.

Biodiesel has a number of advantages not least that it is one of the most renewable fuels available but is also non-toxic and biodegradable. Engines require little or no modification to run on biodiesel and in most cases it prolongs the life of the engine through consistent use.

The common methyl esters are:

  • RME (Rapeseed Methyl Ester)
  • PME (Palm Methyl Ester)
  • SME (Soy Methyl Ester)
  • UCOME (Used Cooking Oil Methyl Ester

Fuels From Waste

Biodiesel derived from used cooking oils and animal fats have a significantly reduced carbon rating than biodiesel derived from virgin oils because these products are categorized as waste by-products. Our investment into transesterification technology at our process plant allows us to produce a range of quality fuels based on a wide range of industry waste by-products.

We are constantly identifying new sources of these waste by-products to ensure our feedstock supply chain is exclusively based on sustainably sourced waste vegetable oils and rendered animal fats from cattle, poultry and fish oils. These waste materials as a bio-fuel feedstock are truly sustainable.

How it Works

We use a two stage process to ensure the most energy efficient process, where all the available oils and fats are converted into biofuel.

The first stage: Esterification
Esterification is the chemical process for making esters. The process involves heating a carboxylic acid with a alcohol (methanol) while removing the water that is generated. This converts the free fatty acids present within the oil or fats to methyl esters. At the end of the esterification process the acid catalyst (usually sulphuric acid) has to be neutralized and the oil is ready for the second transesterification stage.

Second stage: Trans Transesterification
The process involves the reaction of the triglycerides (the main components of fats and oils), with methanol, to form methyl esters and glycerol. During the process the glycerol of the triglyceride is exchanged with the methanol using a strong alkaline catalyst (sodium or potassium hydroxide or methylate). The reaction converts triglycerides to mono-alkyl esters (biodiesel) and crude glycerol.

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