Biodiesel plant reaches capacity in US

Diamond Green Biodiesel, a joint venture between Valero Energy and Darling International, has reached capacity during its start-up phase.

The plant, based next to Valero’s St Charles refinery in Louisiana, began operations in June and uses animal fat, used cooking oil and other waste grease to produce just over 9,000 barrels of biodiesel per day (bpd) currently.

The project, two years in the making, has been backed by the US Department of Energy which backed a $241 million (€180.2 million) loan guarantee to get the biodiesel plant built.

Diamond Green says production will now slow down to between 5,000 – 7,000 bpd as it replaces a heat exchanger to improve the facility’s overall reliability, a plan which is expected to be completed before November.