Advanced BioFuels USA

by Erin Voegele (Biodiesel Magazine)  …According to Greg Springer, president of Green Fuels America Inc., interest in community-scale biodiesel production is increasing all around the world. He attributes this to both high fuel prices and the specific advantages community-scale production can offer. A primary advantage of community-scale production is it allows for a relatively independent, local solution to fuel production. “You can cut your costs and provide fuel independence for a particular region,” he says, noting the logistical advantages of using a locally sourced feedstock and selling the fuel into local markets significantly reduces transportation costs. Other relevant factors include reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

…Springer says, the hot spots for community-scale production right now are such countries as Columbia, Mexico, Argentina, Croatia, South Africa, and even Canada to a certain extent.

…The companies supply three main lines of community-scale systems: the 2,000 gallon-per-day FuelMaker, the 5,000 gallon-per-day FuelMatic, and the 12,500 gallon-per-day FuelSonic. The midsized system gets a full 80 percent of attention from customers…

“Our machine is built on skids at the factory,” Springer says. “It’s a standard design; it’s not custom each time somebody calls and orders it.” The systems are also CE- and ATEX-certified, he says, explaining that ATEX certification means the system is designed to be explosion proof. “We have a touch screen microprocessor, which is remotely located to meet that APEX spec, but that can be plugged into the Internet so you can monitor it from anywhere in the world,” Springer says.

The systems are extremely feedstock flexible, capable of processing everything from virgin vegetable oils to waste grease and rendered fat, and uses no water in the purification process.

…A project in Hong Kong is also using FuelMatic equipment to produce biodiesel using jatropha oil. Greg Springer, president of Green Fuels America, notes that the Hong Kong project is incredibly unique, as the biodiesel processor has actually been installed into a shipping container, which allows it to be moved from location to location. “Our customer based in Hong Kong has control of significant areas of jatropha in the southeast [region] of China,” he says. “They recognize that early on, those plantations themselves are not going to yield significant quantities [to support individual plants]. The concept is they will establish processing locally, close to each plantation, but in the early stages they move our biodiesel processor from one location to another.”   READ MORE