BlackGold and SLM form JV for biodiesel production

BlackGold Biofuels and SLM Facility Solutions Nationwide have joined forces in the US to turn grease trap waste, derived from restaurants, into biofuels.

The process will cost the hospitality companies no extra money to deliver the grease trap waste to the facilities, and then BlackGold Biofuels will extract and recycle the grease, turning it into biodiesel.

'Grease trap waste is the greasy wastewater that goes down the kitchen drain during dishwashing and food preparation. It is typically collected in an underground grease trap or grease interceptor and then access via pumping truck via a manhole,' explains Emily Landsburg, CEO of BlackGold Biofuel, to Biofuels International.

SLM has links to the hospitality industry, which it will use to consolidate the grease trapping process and jetting services for commercial kitchens.

At the moment in the US, grease trap waste is often shipped to landfill or disposed of on fields. Although it could be used for heavy industrial fuel, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits the amount of fuel sulphur that can be released into the atmosphere, so this process is not readily used.

BlackGold’s chemical process meets ASTM and EPA specifications, with about 80% of the energy content from the waste being recycled.

Currently SLM has more than 15,000 clients around the US which it will direct to BlackGold recycling facilities that are close enough to their locations to make the journeys cost-effective.

BlackGold is also building some more recycling centres around the southeast and mid-Atlantic regions of the US which will lower the cost of freight.

Landsburg says: ‘In partnership with SLM, we have identified both the most cost effective and best use for wastewater materials, eliminating confusion and headaches for kitchens and waste-haulers.’