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Desmet, Biodiesel Refinery, 2006, 10 Million Gallon Capacity, Desmet Design, Glycerolysis System, Methyl Ester Distillation

Description

  1. Overview
    1. Refinery constructed in 2006 to class "A" standards using a Desmet design and equipment.
    2. Refinery is as well constructed as any biodiesel refinery in the country and far better than most.
    3. Engineered to be intrinsically safe and operate reliably for many years.
    4. In 2009/2010 a yearlong retrofit was undertaken to increase capacity and improve the refining process to enable the refinery to process multiple feedstocks into a superior neat water white biodiesel.
    5. During the retrofit the following major systems were added: feed oil pretreatment system which includes bleaching and filtration; free fatty acid (FFA) reduction process upgraded to a glycerolys system; final methyl ester distillation system; 10 MBTU thermal oil system installed.
    6. While this refinery was constructed to manufacture biodiesel, it could be readily adapted to perform a wide variety of chemical processing operations.
  2. Features
    1. Located on a rail siding and has both truck and rail loading and unloading.
    2. Over 250,000 gallons of tank storage that is dyked and nitrogen blanketed.
    3. Most process vessels are stainless or alloy 20.
    4. Process area is class 1 div 2 explosion proof.
    5. System is fully automated with an Allen Bradley PLC system.
    6. Tested and certified steam and thermal oil heating systems.
    7. Vacuum system capable of 7 torr.
    8. Dedicated lab with extensive equipment.
  3. Licenses And Permits
    1. All licenses necessary to produce biodiesel were obtained and will convey.
    2. This is particularly significant because the registration process has grown increasingly complex and would otherwise take upwards of a year and tens of thousands of dollars to complete.
    3. Because the plant was built in 2006, it is grandfathered under the new RFS-3 law allowing the refinery to generate RINs using any feedstock.
    4. It is not bound to use the feedstock the EPA classifies as renewable.
    5. This gives the plant the flexibility to use jatropha or palm oil to manufacture biodiesel and still generate and sell RINs.
    6. Any refinery built after 2007 does not have this flexibility.
    7. The current owners will help the buyer with the transition of ownership including permits.
    8. The refinery includes these permits and registrations: air permits; waste and storm water permits; IRS 637 registration; EPA registration; RFS-2 registration; fuel seller's license; trademark.
  4. Feedstock And Market
    1. The refinery is a multi feedstock design and is proximate to ample supplies of various feedstocks in the region.
    2. Soybean oil is available 73 miles from the refinery, yellow grease is available 90 miles from the refinery and poultry fat is available from multiple sources as close as 25 miles from the refinery.
    3. There is virtually no competition near the refinery.
    4. The following table was compiled from data provided by the National Biodiesel Board.
    5. If all refineries listed were operating at reported capacity, the total production would be 9% of the 2012 mandate.
    6. In short, there is more than adequate market demand and mandate with limited competition and/or capacity to fill it.
  5. Marketing And Distribution
    1. The refinery is ideally located to distribute and sell biodiesel in the region.
    2. The refinery can economically ship via truck to markets that move billions of gallons of petroleum-based diesel annually.
    3. Further, the refinery is one of only two that can economically deliver biodiesel via truck to the terminal that fills the bulk of the biodiesel sold to meet region mandate.
    4. Our existing biodiesel markets include: region mandate; government mandated military uses; local municipality uses; heating oil; truck stops.
  6. Process Description
    1. The following is a brief description of the process used to produce distilled biodiesel at the plant.
    2. A P&ID for this process is found in attachment "B".
    3. Methyl Ester Production
      1. Feedstock storage: incoming oil can be unloaded off of either rail cars (Norfolk Southern) or tanker trailer. The unloaded oil is stored in one or two 65,000-gallon nitrogen blanketed tanks.
      2. Feedstock drier: feedstock is metered from a storage tank through a heater and into a vacuum dryer.
      3. Bleaching system: dried oil is accumulated in a tank where bleaching clay is metered in continuously as the slurry is pumped through a horizontal pressure leaf filter.
      4. Glycerolysis: the refinery uses glycerolys as its FFA reduction process. The bleached oil is combined in a mix tank with glycerin. The mixture is sent to a vacuum reactor where glycerolys takes place. The reaction is accomplished by blending feedstock oil with recycled glycerin. Fatty acid in the oil reacts with the glycerin and is converted to tri-glyceride. This process has several major advantages over competing processes: can convert materials with very high fatty acid levels of 50% or higher; process occurs on the base side and does not use harmful acids; reduces catalyst consumption by using recycled glycerin as a reactant that contains catalyst from previous biodiesel production; side reaction converts some tri-glycerides to mono-glycerides that will aid in the dispersion of methanol in the next step.
      5. Transesterification: after the FFA has been lowered to 0.5% or lower it is transferred through a heat re-claimer to a holding tank before transesterification. Converted feed oil along with methanol and catalyst is separately metered into a continuously stirred batch reactor. Glycerin can be drained off and a second reaction can be performed if desired. When the process is completed the batch is dropped into a tank below the reactor for preparation to further processing.
      6. Glycerin separation: methyl esters and glycerin are metered through a continuous horizontal separator.
      7. Methanol removal: both glycerin and methyl esters are separately metered through separate rising film stills and then through vacuum driers to remove methanol. The de-methanoled methyl esters and glycerin are sent to separate storage tanks.
      8. Water wash: methyl esters and water are metered and mixed into a continuous horizontal separator.
      9. Methyl ester drier: washed methyl esters are metered into a large vacuum dryer before being sent to the flash system.
      10. Methyl ester distillation: dried methyl esters are pumped into a continuously circulated and heated vacuum reactor. The reactor uses a separate vacuum system that achieves a vacuum lower than 7 torr. Methyl ester vapors from this reactor are condensed in a direct contact condenser, pumped through a heat re-claimer and sent to one or two 20,000 gallon day tanks. Additives, such as oxidative stability agents, are added in the day tanks and mixed. The day tanks can be pumped into a 65,000 gallon storage tank. Methyl esters are finally pumped through a filter and metered to the loading rack where truck or rail cars can be loaded. The refinery was never fully commissioned due to the untimely expiration of the biodiesel blenders tax credit, but did produce a limited quantity of ASTM quality biodiesel following the process flow described above. An analysis of this fuel is in attachment "A".
    4. Utility And Support Equipment
      1. Vent system: all tank and process vents (including the main vacuum system) are condensed with brine-chilled condensers. The air from the condensers is sent to a