Inventure and CPM|Crown commercialise catalyst-free biodiesel esterification technology

SimplEster increased processing capacity by approximately 15% at Western Iowa Energy while ensuring final acid value below the 0.5 mg KOH/g finished-fuel threshold, and the process can be tuned to a range of acid-value targets, as low as 0.2 mg KOH/g, depending on a producer's needs and feedstocks.

Inventure Renewables, which has deployed over $250 million in first-of-kind processing capacity across North America and Asia, and CPM|Crown today announced a global, non-exclusive partnership to bring Inventure's proprietary SimplEster esterification technology to biodiesel producers worldwide, paired with CPM|Crown's established sodium methylate systems. The partnership is anchored by a proven commercial installation at Western Iowa Energy, LLC (WIE) located in Wall Lake, IA, where SimplEster was commissioned in 2024 as the platform's first US deployment.

What sets SimplEster apart is what it leaves out. The process requires no added catalyst and no enzyme, removing two of the most expensive and maintenance-heavy inputs in biodiesel manufacturing. The result: fewer inputs, fewer systems to maintain, and no consumable catalyst cost for the life of the unit.

At WIE, the SimplEster add-on integrated directly into an existing sodium methylate transesterification system without replacing it, increased plant capacity by approximately 15%, and produced on-spec biodiesel. It ensures acid value below 0.5 mg KOH/g, and, because the process is tunable, it can be configured to hit a range of acid-value targets, as low as 0.2 mg KOH/g, depending on a producer's existing infrastructure, process, feedstocks, and finished-fuel requirements. That flexibility matters for producers who need to stay under the 0.5 mg KOH/g acid-value threshold for finished fuel, as they may lack certain downstream processing equipment.

WIE was already processing lower-carbon-intensity feedstocks, recovering free fatty acids through conventional steam-strip distillation, much of which was historically sold off at commodity prices. The SimplEster add-on lets WIE capture that value internally instead, converting those fatty acids into on-spec biodiesel within its own process rather than selling them downstream.

Building on that result, Inventure and WIE are now evaluating additional side streams through the SimplEster unit, including black esters recovered from the sodium methylate glycerol decanter recycle loop; this is a reflection of the technology's robustness across a wide range of feedstocks (used cooking oil, tallow, distillers' corn oil, poultry fat, etc) and of the two companies' ongoing collaboration.

Under the new partnership, CPM|Crown will offer SimplEster as a bolt-on to its current technology, giving producers already operating sodium methylate systems a straightforward path to greater feedstock flexibility, added capacity, and more efficient conversion of lower-carbon feedstocks.

'For years, ester production meant choosing between a catalyst or an enzyme and paying for one of them for the life of the plant,' said Ryan Long, CEO of Inventure Renewables. 'SimplEster does neither. At Western Iowa Energy it dropped in alongside a plant's existing methylate system, added capacity, and vertically integrated a low-value byproduct into a finished biodiesel product, and we're still at the table with them extending it further. Partnering with CPM|Crown lets us put that same result in front of producers worldwide, backed by an install they can go see for themselves.'

'We didn't want to tear out a system that works,' said Brad Wilson, CEO of Western Iowa Energy. 'We'd been running lower-CI feedstocks for a while, but we were leaving value on the table every time we sold that fatty acid off. Inventure let us keep it, convert it, and get more out of the same footprint, and they stayed with us to figure out what else we can run through it. That's a partnership, not a transaction.'

'Inventure and CPM|Crown's methylate technology are a natural fit, and we've now seen them run together in person,' said Bill Morphew, vice president, CPM|Crown. 'For a producer already operating a sodium methylate system, adding SimplEster is a straightforward way to expand feedstock flexibility and capacity. Pairing it with CPM|Crown's sodium methylate biodiesel processing technology is a strong step forward for both companies.'