BayFAME®

Biodiesel Feedstocks

The manufacturing costs of Biodiesel are dominated by the feedstock costs. While the feedstock presents 80 % of the cost of goods, other factors like investment cost, utilities and labor only play a minor role. Furthermore, feedstock prices and availability are a moving target in today’s environment since typical feedstocks like soybean oil and rapeseed oil, which are easily turned into Biodiesel (FAME), have reached price records of 1,200 €/t and 1,100 €/t in 2008. Less expensive potential feedstocks are available but they contain a significant amount of Free Fatty Acids (FFA) which cannot be processed in conventional Biodiesel plants. In the past, these free fatty acids had to be treated as waste or as a by-product of low value. Some acid esterification techniques for these FFA were available in the market but presented significant issues in terms of acid removal and waste water treatment.