Chapter 9 - Biodiesel plants: real-world designs and fabrications within a real-world case study

Abstract

Even though the chemical reactions used in biodiesel plants are relatively simple, building and operating a biodiesel plant can be challenging. In this chapter, the authors share their own hands-on experiences with a biodiesel plant’s expansion and daily operation with readers. American GreenFuels is the largest biodiesel production facility located in the Northeastern United States. The facility is a continuous flow process and utilizes 100% waste oil as feedstock. American GreenFuels was originally designed as a facility with an annual production capacity of 10 million gallons. In the past decade, it has continued to debottleneck and expand its production capacity to 40 million gallons annually. Besides increased production capacity, American GreenFuels has continued the effort to improve and optimize the current process. A lot of no-cost to low-cost ideas have been proposed and implemented by plant personnel, creating significant commercial value for the company.