Patriot forms biodiesel subsidiary to build new plant

In Illinois, Patriot Renewable Fuels' has approved the formation of a new subsidiary, Patriot Fuels, Biodiesel, to build a 5mgy biodiesel plant adjacent to the company's ethanol plant in Annawan.

The plant will use corn oil extracted from corn, utilising the SUPERTM Process production system designed by Jatro Diesel. By adding this process, Patriot will produce both ethanol for the automotive industry and biodiesel for agriculture and the trucking industry from the same amount of corn. The company began its corn extraction operations in 2011 and hopes the transition will help cut transportation and marketing costs.

The new technology is a single stage, catalyst free, super critical process technology that will process feedstock with Free Fatty Acids (FFAs) up to 100% with minimal or no loss in yield. It will eliminate the use of a homogenous catalyst such as sodium methylate or a heterogeneous catalyst.

The funding and development of the project is helped by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) New Generation Biofuels Production Program.

Concrete and foundation work will begin in December and the plant is scheduled to begin operation by Q3 of 2014.