Crimson Renewable Energy Holdings, LLC (Crimson), the largest low-carbon biodiesel producer in the Western United States, in partnership with Austrian biodiesel and biogas plant manufacturer BDI-BioEnergy International GmbH (BDI), has commissioned what is said to be California's largest biodiesel plant.
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The next-generation biodiesel production plant is located in Bakersfield, California (CA), and features BDI’s patented “REPeatable CATalyst” (RepCAT) technology with a recyclable catalyst.
The plant will mainly operate with waste oils and fats collected in the local region, especially from central and southern California metro areas.
The feedstock comes from restaurants, industrial kitchens, food processors, and rendering facilities making Crimson the largest producer of ultra-low carbon biodiesel in the Western United States.
Innovative technologies that utilize waste
In the United States, California has led the nation in climate change policy and strongly advocates CO2 neutrality – not least because of the untiring efforts of former Californian “Governator” Arnold Schwarzenegger (who also hails from Styria, Austria).
Now BDI has helped advance this transition with trailblazing technology for recycling waste.
As a builder of special processing plants, it’s our mission to use our innovative technologies for a better environment. We are not just developing processes for safe utilization of waste oils and fats, we are helping the world get closer to the climate targets, said Markus Dielacher, CEO of BDI-BioEnergy International.
Maximizing feedstock flexibility with retrofit
BDI’s RepCAT technology makes biodiesel production more efficient and sustainable. Compared to conventional processes, it is exceptionally flexible in terms of the kinds of feedstocks the process can accept.
According to BDI, this makes production more economical, because a great variety of lowest-value waste can be fully exploited.
With this newest generation of biodiesel plant, we can respond to any changes in raw material availability and achieve the maximum possible flexibility. BDI has been a terrific partner and its RepCAT technology is on track to produce a bit over 13-million new gallons for us per year, removing an additional 135 000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, said Harry Simpson, CEO of Crimson.
Second Crimson project
This wasn’t the first project BDI did in partnership with Crimson Renewable Energy: it is a sequel to a retrofit project completed in 2016 at the first Crimson biodiesel plant.
BDI supplied the technology, the key equipment, and the necessary engineering services.
With the second plant, Crimson’s total annual production capacity in Bakersfield is now more than 37 million gallons (≈ 140 million litres).
Global rollout of RepCAT
Following successful projects in Vienna (Austria), Hong Kong, London (UK), and now California in the United States, BDI is “working at full speed” on further biodiesel plants using the innovative RepCAT technology for environmentally friendly disposal and upcycling of waste fats to produce high-quality biodiesel.
Our RepCAT technology is already being used successfully in the largest biodiesel plant in Hungary and will soon also be used in Belgium to produce sustainable fuel. The highly efficient use of local resources is an important argument for technology from Styria in this context, commented Hermann Stockinger, CSO at BDI.
