Virginia microcap revives biodiesel by-product market with 36 Mgy contract for renewable fuel made from glycerine

In Virginia, microcap biofuels company Xcel Plus announced that it had secured a 36 Mgy contract to supply its GlyClene-brand renewable fuel, made from glycerine, to Oldcastle Materials, an asphalt and concrete company. Company management estimated the value of the contract at $40-$60 million, and said that it will commence deliveries this month.

The Xcel Plus process cracks glycerine, a biodiesel byproduct of the transesterification process, into two fuels, one of which (at around 50 percent by weight) is Glyclene and is suitable for turbine engines for power generation.  Crude glycerine prices have dropped as low as $0.02 per pound last year before recovering to $0.06 – $0.10 per pound.

The potential to convert crude glycerine to fuel has the potential to generate a profit stream either to refiners such as Xcel Plus, or to biodiesel producers in the form of higher prices for crude glycerine. Xcel Plus estimated that there is more than 150,000 tons of crude glycerine produced by biodiesel operations in the US. Xcel Plus said in January that it had contracts for up to 200 million gallons of GlyClene.

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Bratney to distribute “odorless glycerine” made from biodiesel

In Iowa, Bratney announced that it is distributing a technology to make glycerine produced from biodiesel "guaranteed to be odorless." Biodiesel-derived glycerine has generally been discounted due to ...

USDA research teams concludes that glycerine is a economically, nutritionally viable supplement to poultry diets; new market for biodiesel by-product foreseen

In Mississippi, a team at the USDA's Agricultural Research Service said that tests on young chickens showed that glycerine could be an economically and environmentally sound additive to poultry diets....

Glycol Biotechnologies to produce ethanol from glycerine in Texas by mid 2008

In Texas, Glycol Biotechnologies, a firm founded by Rice University researchers that has developed a technology that converts glycerine into ethanol, will begin producing ethanol at a pilot plant in H...

New Generation Biofuels pioneers the market between diesel and biodiesel with additive-based fuel oil

In Maryland, more details have emerged about New Generations Biofuels in an exclusive interview with Biofuels Digest on the company's business model and development path. "We blend additives, it not a...

Rice University researchers convert glycerine into more high-value chemicals

Researchers at Rice University have uncovered a process to convert glycerine, produced during biodiesel trans-esterification, into valuable feedstocks such as succinate. Succinate is a feedstock for d...

Missouri cracks down on glycerine dumping; operator indicted for 25,000 fish kill

In Missouri, the state Department of Natural Resources is cracking down on glycerine dumping, which is fouling state waterways. Biodiesel producers have been dumping glycerine in recent months due to ...