Producers turn waste into profit

An electrochemical process developed by scientists at a Loughborough University spin-out company in the UK has enabled biodiesel producers to turn waste into profit – while slashing emissions and energy use. The R3V Tech team, headed by chemistry experts Dr Adriano Randi and Professor Benjamin Buckley, have developed a process that converts crude glycerol – a low-value byproduct of the biodiesel industry – into a high-value bio-derived solvent as a fuel additive. The company is currently scaling its laboratory-based process from gram-scale experiments to kilogram-per hour production and it has recently been awarded an Innovate UK grant to build and trial a pilot demonstrator at a biodiesel plant. “I saw this project as a big opportunity to work on something that can make a difference to the planet, the environment and society,” said Dr Randi, CEO and co-founder of R3V Tech. “I’d like to see every biodiesel company using this process one day and to leave behind a legacy that...