Austria-based biodiesel plant specialist BDI – BioEnergy International AG, has announced that it has been awarded another contract by it US client Crimson Renewable Energy LP. This time it is for a new biodiesel production line to be built at Crimson's existing plant in Bakersfield, California. A "lighthouse" project, the new line will be dedicated to the conversion of fats, oils and grease (FOG) collected from metropolitan areas and will feature BDI's latest RepCAT technology.
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A year after the successful commissioning of two new major subsystems purchased from BDI, Crimson Renewable Energy’s Bakersfield facility has the annual capacity to produce 24 million US gallons (≈ 90 million litres) making it the single largest biodiesel plant in California.
The company has once again chosen BDI as the technology provider for a new biodiesel plant that will run alongside Crimson’s existing Bakersfield plant. Besides Hong Kong – where trap grease from local restaurants are converted, and Stanlow in the United Kingdom – where also “Fettbergs” from the London sewage system are used as feedstock for biodiesel production, the new Crimson plant will mainly process fats, oil and grease (FOG) from metropolitan areas in California.
Following the successful upgrading of certain major subsystems of our existing biodiesel plant, BDI was the leading contender for the addition of a new production line to expand of our plant in California. It was a good business decision for Crimson to choose BDI because of the very positive experience we had with the highly professional BDI team over the past 2 years combined with BDI’s long history of building successful biodiesel plants and the opportunity to utilize the BDI RepCAT technology to run new waste oil feedstocks, commented Harry Simpson, CEO of Crimson Renewable Energy.
The RepCAT technology is an in-house development of BDI. The first plant of this kind was built in Austria. In contrast to the standard biodiesel process, RepCAT features a low-cost recyclable catalyst and avoids complex by-product treatment. Therefore, operating costs are drastically reduced and the quality of byproducts is significantly improved.
According to BDI, a further highlight of the RepCAT technology is the extremely high feedstock flexibility. Waste oils and fats of different kinds and origin such as used cooking oil (UCO), yellow grease, animal fats, trap grease, or residues from vegetable oil refining, can be processed into high-quality biodiesel.
We got to know Crimson as a results-oriented customer with a strong market position but who was still open to new technologies. All of us at BDI are now very much looking forward to working together again with the excellent Crimson team in order to make this project a success and prove the many benefits of the BDI RepCAT technology, said Hermann Stockinger, Vice President Sales at BDI.