Australian Biodiesel Producer to Build Plant in New Mexico
23 February 2007
|Energea 120 t/d CTER process unit. Click to enlarge.|
American Renewable Fuels, a subsidiary of Australian Renewable Fuels Limited, will build a biodiesel production facility in Clovis, New Mexico with capacity to produce 75 million gallons of biodiesel each year.
The plant will primarily use local animal tallow as feedstock to produce biodiesel via a patented process that utilizes a Continuous Trans Esterification Reactor (CTER) from Energea, an Austrian company. The Energea CTER technology is a continuous conversion process capable of processing a wide range of fats.
|The CTER process. Click to enlarge.|
The CTER process is carried out in three main stages: a pre-transesterification and two transesterifications using a patent-pending high pressure process. The process supports the use of fats or oils with a free fatty acid (FFA) content of up to 5%.
American Renewable Fuels owns the exclusive patent rights to the Energea technology in the NAFTA region, and its parent uses the Energea technology in Australia. The Energea CTER process is in use at the Biofuels Corporation 250,000 t/y plant in Teeside, UK.
After careful consideration of a number of potential sites, Clovis was chosen because of its proximity to feedstock (inputs such as fats and vegetable oils), location on the national rail grid, and most importantly the support of the State and Local governments to encourage growth of alternate fuel production in the State of New Mexico.—Ross Garrity, CEO of American Renewable Fuels
Construction is expected to begin in July or August of this year, with the plant scheduled for operation in fall of 2008. The total capital investment is expected to be $80 million dollars.
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