Pre-esterification of low-FFA feedstock

Boost profits by processing low-FFA feedstocks in your existing asset

Like many biodiesel plant operators, you want to start processing low-FFA feedstocks, such as used cooking oil and tallow, at the lowest possible capital cost. To accomplish this, many producers build acid esterification or deodorization pre-treatment to process feedstocks in their existing chemical transesterification plants. However, these technologies for pre-treatment of low-FFA feedstocks require high acid dosage and energy consumption, long reaction times, and significant CAPEX expenditures.

You can overcome these challenges and start processing low-FFA feedstocks prior to transesterification at a low cost and with minimal CAPEX with enzymatic pre-esterification.

In this process, low FFA feedstocks are pretreated with NS 400281 and then co-processed with chemical transesterification for on-spec biodiesel. NS 400281 is well-proven to convert feedstocks with up to 15% FFA  to crude FAME with <1% FFA. 

Feedstock-specific pretreatment is accomplished using bolt-on batch or continuous stirred-tank reactors (CSTR) for a 150 TDP plant at ambient pressure and temperature, and delivers a number of benefits:

• Up to €2.0 million more profit per year from low-FFA feedstocks
• CAPEX as low as zero provided that the required reactor capacity is made available
• An optimized enzyme dosage of <1kg per ton of feedstock

With our FlexFit^® process, Novonesis engineers can help you identify the best ways for your plant to maximize profits and transition to feedstock flexibility with our NS 400281 biocatalyst.