Interest in grease trap & waste cooking oils remains high as feedstock for biodiesel production. A CRADA will bring the Naval Air Weapons Center and Biodiesel Development Corporation ("BDC") together to evaluate the feasibility of establishing biodiesel production facilities in Nevada and California utilizing grease trap and high free fatty acid used cooking oils as feedstocks. The investigation will focus on three areas of feasibility: (1) technical, (2) marketing and, (3) legal. The objective is to assess the suitability and availability of feedstocks relative to receptive biodiesel markets with favorable legal and regulatory environments, and ultimately to determine viable locations for biodiesel production facilities using high free fatty acid degraded vegetable oils as feedstocks.
Under the terms of a recently executed CRADA, this project will be undertaken in cooperation with the Naval Air Weapons Center at Point Mugu, CA with Dr. Mike Sullivan as the Navy's designated project liaison.
The grant recipient, Biodiesel Development Corporation ("BDC"), has acquired the exclusive license for a continuous flow process (commonly known as the "Phaster" process) for producing biodiesel from very high free fatty acid ("hffa") feedstocks. The Phaster process has been successfully demonstrated on a bench scale and BDC has begun construction of a process demonstration unit (PDU) in cooperation with the inventor of the process, Dr. David Boocock, at the University of Toronto. As part of the CRADA with the US Navy, BDC will be operating the PDU at Pt. Mugu and will attempt to scale the PDU for military use as a deployable biodiesel production facility.
Successful implementation of the Phaster process will eliminate one of the principal barriers to marker acceptance of biodiesel by substantially lowering its price and improving emission characteristics.
The market place barrier is not unique to biodiesel and has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Energy as an impediment to alternative fuels generally; as a corollary, they have also recognized the beneficial effects of equalizing the price between traditional and alternative fuels.
"An oil price rise could well cause dramatic changes in relative prices between gasoline and a number of alternative fuels, resulting in natural fuel switching if the conditions enabling motorists to switch fuels are in place. Comparative historical movements in relative prices for alternative fuels and their feedstocks show clear divergences in price movements from crude oil and gasoline, particularly for electricity, ethanol, and methanol."
The implied negative "divergence" of alternative fuel prices in the above citation may be reversed with regard to biodiesel for the benefit of consumers by using the Phaster process.
Contact:
Dr. Mike Sullivan at (805) 989-9208
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