Transesterification
www.Transesterification.net

Renewable Energy Technologies provides turnkey renewable energy and renewable fuels project development services.  This includes consulting services, acquisitions, development, design/engineering, construction, operations, financing and investment opportunities for Renewable Energy and Renewable Fuels projects.

THE SITE FOR OUR NEXT BIODIESEL PLANT HAS BEEN SELECTED - 
LOCATION: HOUSTON SHIP CHANNEL.

YEAR 1 PRODUCTION OF B100 BIODIESEL:  
34 MILLION GALLONS/YEAR

YEAR 2 PRODUCTION OF B100 BIODIESEL:
100 MILLION GALLONS/YEAR

CONSTRUCTION TIME TO COMPLETE NEW BIODIESEL PLANT (CONVERSION OF EXISTING FACILITY):
8 MONTHS

THIS BIODIESEL PLANT WILL RUN MULTIPLE FEEDSTOCKS.

ALL B100 BIODIESEL WE WILL PRODUCE IS PRE-SOLD.

INVESTMENT REQUIREMENT FOR THIS NEWEST PLANT:  
$22 MILLION 

AMOUNT RAISED TO DATE: 
$2 MILLION

BALANCE OF INVESTMENT REQUIREMENT REMAINING:
$20 MILLION

"ACCREDITED" INVESTOR(S) SEEKING TO INVEST A MINIMUM OF $600,000.00 IN A NEW BIODIESEL PLANT AND ABLE TO PROVE ACCREDITED INVESTOR STATUS AND INVESTMENT ABILITY - 

CALL (512) 220 - 1498 AND LEAVE YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION WITH OUR VOICE MAIL SERVICE OR 

SEND EMAIL TO:  info @ RenewableEnergyInstitute . org

Biodiesel is a legally registered fuel and fuel additive with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("USEPA"). The USEPA registration includes all biodiesel meeting the ASTM International biodiesel specification, ASTM D 6751-03, which outlines specifications for B100 biodiesel for use as a blend component or substitute for standard diesel fuel.

We buy and sell B100 Biodiesel and have plans to start producing and blending our own, "home-grown, clean, renewable, and American made" B100 Biodiesel, to help end our reliance on unstable, non-renewable, and "dirty" middle-east oil that pollutes our environment and causes inflated energy prices. 

B100 Biodiesel has numerous advantages to petroleum diesel - it's renewable, non-toxic, biodegradable, and produced by American and Canadian farmers. B100 Biodiesel is 100 % biodiesel fuel, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 78.3%, particulate matter by 55.4%, hydrocarbons by 56.3%, mutagenicity by 80-90% and sulfur by 100%. 

B100 Biodiesel produced from a variety of feedstocks, grown on American and Canadian farms, will help to end our/your country's reliance on unstable, non-renewable, and "dirty" middle-east oil that pollutes our environment and causes inflated energy prices. 

Our company builds new Biodiesel Refineries throughout the U.S. and now, developing countries with a variety of feedstocks that include; canola, coconut, jatropha, jojoba, mustard seed, palm oil, peanuts, rapeseed, and soybean, among others.

In association with a major U.S. university, we incorporate the latest technologies in the production of B100 Biodiesel from oilseed crops, that will provide our biodiesel refineries with the highest efficiencies. We also are an importer of (vegetable) energy oils, where we refine it into Biodiesel fuel for use in our cogeneration and trigeneration power plants.  Additionally, we buy/sell/broker (vegetable) energy oils in the international market

For more information, call 832-758-0027

Renewable Energy Technologies provides the following power and energy project development services: 

• Project Engineering Feasibility & Economic Analysis Studies  

• Engineering, Procurement and Construction

• Environmental Engineering & Permitting 

• Project Funding & Financing Options; including Equity Investment, Debt Financing, Lease and Municipal Lease

• Shared/Guaranteed Savings Program with No Capital Investment from Qualified Clients 

• Project Commissioning 

• 3rd Party Ownership and Project Development

• Long-term Service Agreements

• Operations & Maintenance 

• Green Tag (Renewable Energy Credit, Carbon Dioxide Credits, Emission Reduction Credits) Brokerage Services; Application and Permitting

We are specialists in Renewable Energy Technologies, Demand Side Management and in developing clean power/energy projects that will generate a Renewable Energy Credit,  Carbon Dioxide Credits and/or Emission Reduction Credits.  Through our strategic partners, we offer "turnkey" power/energy project development products and services that may include; Absorption Chillers, Adsorption Chillers, Automated Demand Response, Biodiesel Refineries, Biofuel Refineries, Biomass Gasification, BioMethane, Canola Biodiesel, Coconut Biodiesel, Cogeneration, Concentrating Solar Power, Demand Response Programs, Demand Side Management, Energy Conservation Measures, Energy Master Planning, Engine Driven Chillers, Solar CHP, Solar Cogeneration, Rapeseed Biodiesel, Solar Electric Heat Pumps, Solar Electric Power Systems, Solar Heating and Cooling, Solar Trigeneration, Soy Biodiesel, and Trigeneration.

For more information: call us at: 832-758-0027

Our company invests in and builds new Biodiesel Refineries throughout the U.S., Canada, Central America and the Caribbean for our company and our investors. For individual farmers, we can design, engineer and build small-scale biodiesel refineries; i.e. 5,000 acres of canola will produce about 500,000 gallons of Biodiesel.  We are a broker and importer of Crude Palm Oil and other energy oils, where we refine it into Biodiesel fuel for use in our cogeneration and trigeneration power plants.  

Additionally, we buy/sell/broker biofuels, including biodiesel which we can also blend through our partner companies facilities anywhere from a B2 to B99 Biodiesel blend. We buy/sell/broker ethanol and energy oils in the international markets. 

We plan to be the international leader and supplier of Biodiesel Refineries.  For qualified clients, we provide "turnkey" biodiesel refinery services, including; EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction), Investment/Funding, Permitting, Certified Emission Reductions, Emission Reduction Credits, Renewable Energy Certificates, Carbon Dioxide Credits, and Emission Reduction Credits under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism.  

For more information, call 832-758-0027

Biodiesel Production

Key Reaction. The main reaction for converting oil to biodiesel is called transesterification. The transesterification process reacts an alcohol (like methanol) with the triglyceride oils contained in vegetable oils, animal fats, or recycled greases, forming fatty acid alkyl esters (biodiesel) and glycerin. The reaction requires heat and a strong base catalyst, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. The simplified transesterification reaction is shown below.

Pretreatment Reaction. Some feedstocks must be pretreated before they can go through the transesterification process. Feedstocks with less than 4% free fatty acids, which include vegetable oils and some food-grade animal fats, do not require pretreatment. Feedstocks with more than 4% free fatty acids, which include inedible animal fats and recycled greases, must be pretreated in an acid esterification process. In this step, the feedstock is reacted with an alcohol (like methanol) in the presence of a strong acid catalyst (sulfuric acid), converting the free fatty acids into biodiesel. The remaining triglycerides are converted to biodiesel in the transesterification reaction.

Process Description.

• Acid Esterification. Oil feedstocks containing more than 4% free fatty acids go through an acid esterification process to increase the yield of biodiesel. These feedstocks are filtered and preprocessed to remove water and contaminants, and then fed to the acid esterification process. The catalyst, sulfuric acid, is dissolved in methanol and then mixed with the pretreated oil. The mixture is heated and stirred, and the free fatty acids are converted to biodiesel. Once the reaction is complete, it is dewatered and then fed to the transesterification process.

• Transesterification. Oil feedstocks containing less than 4% free fatty acids are filtered and preprocessed to remove water and contaminants and then fed directly to the transesterification process along with any products of the acid esterification process. The catalyst, potassium hydroxide, is dissolved in methanol and then mixed with and the pretreated oil. If an acid esterification process is used, then extra base catalyst must be added to neutralize the acid added in that step. Once the reaction is complete, the major co-products, biodiesel and glycerin, are separated into two layers.

• Methanol recovery. The methanol is typically removed after the biodiesel and glycerin have been separated, to prevent the reaction from reversing itself. The methanol is cleaned and recycled back to the beginning of the process.

• Biodiesel refining. Once separated from the glycerin, the biodiesel goes through a clean-up or purification process to remove excess alcohol, residual catalyst and soaps. This consists of one or more washings with clean water. It is then dried and sent to storage. Sometimes the biodiesel goes through an additional distillation step to produce a colorless, odorless, zero-sulfur biodiesel.

• Glycerin refining. The glycerin by-product contains unreacted catalyst and soaps that are neutralized with an acid. Water and alcohol are removed to produce 50%-80% crude glycerin. The remaining contaminants include unreacted fats and oils. In large biodiesel plants, the glycerin can be further purified, to 99% or higher purity, for sale to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

What is "esterification"?

Esterification is the chemical process of combining an alcohol and an acid which results in the formation of an ester.

Biofuels and the Environment

Global Warming. The combustion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas has increased the concentration of carbon dioxide in the earth's atmosphere. The carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases allow solar energy to enter the Earth's atmosphere, but reduce the amount of energy that can re-radiate back into space, trapping energy and causing global warming.

One environmental benefit of replacing fossil fuels with biomass-based fuels is that the energy obtained from biomass does not add to global warming. All fuel combustion, including fuels produced from biomass, releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But, because plants use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to grow (photosynthesis), the carbon dioxide formed during combustion is balanced by that absorbed during the annual growth of the plants used as the biomass feedstock—unlike burning fossil fuels which releases carbon dioxide captured billions of years ago. You must also consider how much fossil energy is used to grow and process the biomass feedstock, but the result is still substantially reduced net greenhouse gas emissions. Modern, high-yield corn production is relatively energy intense, but the net greenhouse gas emission reduction from making ethanol from corn grain is still about 20%. Making biodiesel from soybeans reduces net emissions nearly 80%. Producing ethanol from cellulosic material also involves generating electricity by combusting the non-fermentable lignin. The combination of reducing both gasoline use and fossil electrical production can mean a greater than 100% net greenhouse gas emission reduction. In the case of ethanol from corn stover, we have calculated that reduction to be 113%.

Vehicle Emissions. Petroleum diesel and gasoline consist of blends of hundreds of different hydrocarbon chains. Many of these are toxic, volatile compounds such as benzene, toluene, and xylenes, which are responsible for the health hazards and pollution associated with combustion of petroleum-based fuels. Carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides sulfur oxides and particulates, are other specific emissions of concern. A key environmental benefit of using biofuels as an additive to petroleum-based transportation fuels is a reduction in these harmful emissions.

Both bioethanol and biodiesel are used as fuel oxygenates to improve combustion characteristics. Adding oxygen results in more complete combustion, which reduces carbon monoxide emissions. This is another environmental benefit of replacing petroleum fuels with biofuels. Ethanol is typically blended with gasoline to form an E10 blend (5%-10% ethanol and 90%-95% gasoline), but it can be used in higher concentrations such as E85 or in its pure form. Biodiesel is usually blended with petroleum diesel to form a B20 blend (20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel), although other blend levels can be used up to B100 (pure biodiesel).

What is B2 Biodiesel?

Pure biodiesel or B100 Biodiesel, is a non-toxic, biodegradable, renewable, carbon-neutral, sulfur-free, home-grown fuel that replaces petroleum diesel.  When blended with equal parts of B100 biodiesel, creates B50 biodiesel, or 50% biodiesel and 50% petroleum diesel. Therefore, B2 Biodiesel, is comprised of a "blend" of 2% Biodiesel and 98% petroleum diesel.

What is B5 Biodiesel?

Pure biodiesel or B100 Biodiesel, is a non-toxic, biodegradable, renewable, carbon-neutral, sulfur-free, home-grown fuel that replaces petroleum diesel.  When blended with equal parts of B100 biodiesel, creates B50 biodiesel, or 50% biodiesel and 50% petroleum diesel. Therefore, B5 Biodiesel, is comprised of a "blend" of 5% Biodiesel and 95% petroleum diesel.

What is B10 Biodiesel?

Pure biodiesel or B100 Biodiesel, is a non-toxic, biodegradable, renewable, carbon-neutral, sulfur-free, domestic fuel that when blended with 9 parts petroleum diesel to one part biodiesel creates B10 biodiesel, or 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel.

What is B20 Biodiesel?

B20 Biodiesel is one the most popular biodiesel blends presently available thoughout much of the U.S., Canada and Europe.  Pure biodiesel or B100 Biodiesel, is a non-toxic, biodegradable, renewable, carbon-neutral, sulfur-free, domestic fuel that when mixed with four parts petroleum diesel to one part biodiesel creates B20 biodiesel, or 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel.

What is B50 Biodiesel?

Pure biodiesel or B100 Biodiesel, is a non-toxic, biodegradable, renewable, carbon-neutral, sulfur-free, domestic petroleum diesel when blended with equal parts of B100 biodiesel creates B50 biodiesel, or 50% biodiesel and 50% petroleum diesel.

What is B95 Biodiesel?

Pure biodiesel or B100 Biodiesel, is a non-toxic, biodegradable, renewable, carbon-neutral, sulfur-free, home-grown fuel that replaces petroleum diesel.  When blended with equal parts of B100 biodiesel, creates B50 biodiesel, or 50% biodiesel and 50% petroleum diesel. Therefore, B95 Biodiesel, is comprised of a "blend" of 95% Biodiesel and 5% petroleum diesel.

What is B99 Biodiesel?

Pure biodiesel or B100 Biodiesel, is a non-toxic, biodegradable, renewable, carbon-neutral, sulfur-free, home-grown fuel that replaces petroleum diesel.  When blended with equal parts of B100 biodiesel, creates B50 biodiesel, or 50% biodiesel and 50% petroleum diesel. Therefore, B99 Biodiesel, is comprised of a "blend" of 99% Biodiesel and 1% petroleum diesel.

What is B100 Biodiesel?

Pure biodiesel is referred to as B100 Biodiesel, which is a non-toxic, biodegradable, renewable, carbon-neutral, sulfur-free, domestically "grown" biofuel. B100 Biodiesel is refined from many American-grown fuel/energy crops such as soybeans, canola, rapeseed and even palm trees. 

Can B20 Biodiesel cause, or prevent problems for my diesel engine?

This depends on the age of the car. Biodiesel is a solvent and may affect some seals, gaskets, and adhesives, particularly those made before 1993 and those made from natural or nitrile rubber. Most diesel engines manufactured after 1994 have been constructed with gaskets and seals that are biodiesel resistant. Earlier engine models or rebuilds may use older gasket and seal materials and present a risk of swelling, leaking, or failure. Fuel pumps may contain rubber valves that may fail. 

B20 Biodiesel cleans dirty engine deposits, which may result in you needing an initial fuel filter change. 

B20 Biodiesel fuel is being widely used in various areas around the United States and Canada. Its production and distribution is expanding rapidly throughout the U.S. and Canada. 

Now that B20 Biodiesel has been gaining wide-spread distribution and popularity, questions are being asked for which some of the more common questions are answered below.

Does B20 Biodiesel perform as well as regular petroleum diesel?

Clean the Air We Breathe!

B20 Biodiesel burns significantly cleaner than regular petroleum diesel. This means engines in cars powered by B20 Biodiesel fuel will significantly fewer harmful exhaust emissions than those of regular petroleum diesel. In fact, the higher the percentage of biofuel used, the greater the reduction in dangerous emissions. 

More specifically, the B20 Biodiesel fuel used in your diesel engine means you are reducing the amount of harmful emissions from your car or truck into our air by the following amounts:

• Carbon monoxide -12.6%
• Hydrocarbons -11.0%
• Particulates -18.0%
• Air toxics -12%–20%
• Mutagenicity -20%

Grow Your Own "Green" BioDiesel

Increase Profits for Farmers, Improve the Local and Global Economy and Ecology, 
Decrease Pollution and End the Monopoly of OPEC/Foreign Supplies of "Dirty" Fuels!  

At an average production rate of 130 gallons per acre, Canola or Rapeseed Oil ("BioDiesel") is one of the preferred energy crops in the U.S. and Europe. 

What is Canola Biodiesel?

Canola biodiesel is an environmentally- friendly, renewable energy source that could also produce cost savings for taxpayers and private businesses and is produced from farmers that grow canola. 

Biodiesel produced from canola and rapeseed oil is superior to soy biodiesel. Especially due to the widely varying price fluctuations of soybeans. And because the feedstock (the oil produced from the fuel crop, such as soybeans, rapeseed or canola) to make biodiesel makes up about 80% of the cost for 
100 % biodiesel, basic economics dictate that the feedstock be obtained from the least-cost source, which is going to be either canola or rapeseed.  

Initial research conducted by the University of Saskatchewan and the AAFC Saskatoon Research Centre has found that each ton of renewable biodiesel fuel saves five times its weight in diesel fuel. As well, engines using biodiesel demonstrate wear rates as much as 50% lower than those using regular commercial fuels – effectively doubling engine life.

Canola is a member of the Brassica Family, which includes broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, mustard, radish, and turnip. It is a variant of the crop rapeseed. Grown for its seed, the seed is crushed for the oil contained within. After the oil is extracted, the by-product is a protein-richmeal used by the intensive livestock industry. 

Canola is a very small seed, which means sowing depth must be controlled. The current sowing practice is to cover the seed lightly with soil, which provides more protection from drying out after germination. 

Canola is generally sown in autumn and develops over winter, with flowers emerging in the spring and is harvested early summer. With a growing period of around 180-200 days climatic effects such as sudden heat waves can reduce yields and hot dry conditions can limit its oil content. Summer weather ensures low moisture (less than 6%) at harvest. Carry-in stocks of canola are minimal because of a lack of on-farm storage. Canola is a good rotational crop, acting as a break crop for cereal root diseases. However for disease-related reasons, a rotation period of 3-5 years is required for canola crops. of iodine in grams absorbed per 100 ml of oil is then the IV. The higher the IV, the more unsaturated (the greater the number of double bonds available) is the oil and the higher the potential to ‘gum up’ when used as a fuel in an engine. Though some oils have a low IV and are suitable without any further processing other than extraction and filtering, the majority of vegetable and animal oils have an IV which does not permit their use as a neat fuel. 

Generally speaking, an IV of less than about 25 is required if the neat oil is to be used in unmodified diesel engines and this severely limited the types of oil that can be used.

The IV can be easily reduced by hydrogenation of the oil (reacting the oil with hydrogen), the hydrogen breaking the double bond and converting the fat or oil into a more saturated oil and reducing the tendency of the oil to polymerise. However this process also tends to increase the melting point of the oil and converts the oil into margarine. Only coconut oil has an IV low enough to be used without any special precautions in a unmodified diesel engine. However with a melting point of 25°C, the use of coconut oil in cooler areas would obviously lead to problems. 

Linseed oil could be mixed with petroleum diesel at a ratio of up to 1:8 to give an equivalent IV in the mid-twenties. Likewise coconut oil can be thinned with diesel or kerosene to render it less viscous in cooler climates. Obviously the solubility of the oil in petroleum also needs to be taken into account. Another method is to emulsify the oil or fat with ethanol. Most vegetable oils are a mixture of different esters such as oleic acid (main constituent of olive oil), ricinoleic acid (main constituent of castor oil), linoleic acid (main constituents of linseed oil), palmitic acid (main constituent of palm kernel oil) and so on. In an analogous way to that in which crude oil is refined to make a useable automotive fuel, canola oil needs to be transesterified to make an automotive fuel that is useable in unmodified diesel engines. 

When the oil is processed in a transesterfication process, the various fatty acids react with the alcohol to form a mixture of lighter esters and glycerol. The name of the specific fuel is called after the plant (or animal) source plus the alcohol. Made from rapeseed oil and methanol, the biodiesel is called Rape Methyl Ester (RME), from canola oil and ethanol, Canola Ethyl Ester (CEE), and from used McDonald’s cooking oil and ethanol or methanol, ("McDiesel").


What is Rapeseed Biodiesel?

Rapeseed, some varieties of which are used to make mustard and others to make canola oil, is the preferred biodiesel feedstock in Europe. Depending on the variety, rapeseed oil contains about 40 to 50 percent of its weight in rapeseed is oil, as compared with only 20 percent for soybeans. It can be planted and harvested with the same equipment used for small grains. In addition, rapeseed oil offers certain advantages in the production of biodiesel.


What is "Global Warming Potential?

Global Warming Potential (GWP) is the index used to translate the level of emissions of various gases into a common measure in order to compare the relative radiative forcing of different gases without directly calculating the changes in atmospheric concentrations. 

GWPs are calculated as the ratio of the radiative forcing that would result from the emissions of one kilogram of a greenhouse gas to that from emission of one kilogram of carbon dioxide over a period of time (usually 100 years). Gases involved in complex atmospheric chemical processes have not been assigned GWPs due to complications that arise.

Greenhouse gases are expressed in terms of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has presented these GWPs 
and regularly updates them in new assessments. The instantaneous radiative forcing that results from the addition of 1 kilogram of a gas to the atmosphere, relative to that of 1 kilogram of carbon dioxide. 

Over a time horizon of 100 years, methane has a GWP of 24.5, nitrous oxide has a GWP of 320, and CFC-11 has a GWP of 4,000

What Are Greenhouse Gases?

Some greenhouse gases occur naturally in the atmosphere, while others result from human activities. Naturally occurring greenhouse gases include water vapor,
carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Certain human activities, however, add to the levels of most of these naturally occurring gases:

Carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere when solid waste, fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal), and wood and wood products are burned. 

Methane is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil. Methane emissions also result from the decomposition of organic wastes in municipal solid waste landfills, and the raising of livestock. More information on methane.

Nitrous oxide is emitted during agricultural and industrial activities, as well as during combustion of solid waste and fossil fuels. 

Very powerful greenhouse gases that are not naturally occurring include hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), which are generated in a variety of industrial processes.

Global Warming Potentials and Atmospheric Lifetimes (Years)

^a 100 year time horizon
^b The methane GWP includes the direct effects and those indirect effects due to the production of tropospheric ozone and stratospheric water vapor. The indirect effect due to the production of CO₂ is not included.

We provide turnkey services that removes Nitrogen Oxides, Nitrous Oxides and Sulfur Oxides. Unlike most companies, we are equipment supplier/vendor neutral. This means we help our clients select the best equipment for their specific application. This approach provides our customers with superior performance, decreased operating expenses and increased return on investment. Selective Catalytic Reduction systems are frequently used in removing NOx.

Our company provides turn-key project solutions that include all or part of the following: 

• Engineering and Economic Feasibility Studies 

• Project Design, Engineering & Permitting

• Project Construction

• Project Funding & Financing Options

• Shared/Guaranteed Savings program with no capital requirements. 

• Project Commissioning 

• Operations & Maintenance 

For more information, call 832-758-0027

What are Nitrogen Oxides?

Nitrogen oxides, or NOx, is the generic term for a group of highly reactive gases, all of which contain nitrogen and oxygen in varying amounts. Many of the nitrogen oxides are colorless and odorless. However, one common pollutant, nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) along with particles in the air can often be seen as a reddish-brown layer over many urban areas.

Nitrogen oxides form when fuel is burned at high temperatures, as in a combustion process. The primary sources of NOx are motor vehicles, electric utilities, and other industrial, commercial, and residential sources that burn fuels.

Reasons for Concern

How can Nitrogen Oxides be Removed from the Environment?

Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) is a proven and effective method to reduce nitrogen oxides which is an air pollutant associated with the power generation process. Nitrogen oxides are a contributor to ground level ozone. 

How does Selective Catalytic Reduction work?

SCR Systems work similar to a catalytic converter used to reduce automobile emissions. Prior to exhaust gases going up the smokestack, they will pass through the SCR System where anhydrous ammonia reacts with nitrogen oxide and converts it to nitrogen and water.

For more information call us at: 832-758-0027

* Some of the above information from the Department of Energy website with permission.

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