First economical process to turn Algae Oil to Biodiesel - Ben Wen

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Ben Wen is the lead researcher and vice president of United Environment and Energy LLC, Horseheads, N.Y. According to him, “This is the first economical way to produce biodiesel from algae oil. It costs much less than conventional processes because you would need a much smaller factory, there are no water disposal costs, and the process is considerably faster.”

They are using a proprietary solid catalyst developed in their laboratory. Solid catalyst have several advantages over liquid catalyst like, they can be utilized repeatedly, a continuous flowing production of biodiesel can be maintained and there is no need for neutralization.

Wen explains that the solid catalyst continuous flow method can be tailored into mobile units so that smaller companies wouldn’t have to construct plants and the military could use the process in the field.

According to him, his firm is currently conducting a pilot program for the process with a production capacity of nearly 1 million gallons of algae biodiesel per year. Depending upon the size of the machinery and the plant, he said it is possible that a company can produce up to 50 million gallons of algae biodiesel every year.

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