verbiodiesel

verbiodiesel is a sustainable alternative to the use of fossil fuels in transport. In Europe, this biofuel is mainly produced from rapeseed oil, which is a renewable resource. By contrast, mainly vegetable oils such as soy and palm are used in Asia and America.

The manufacture and combustion of biodiesel produces substantially less CO₂ than diesel. Compared to fossil diesel, verbiodiesel reduces CO₂ emissions by 70%
Combustion only releases the amount of carbon dioxide which originally absorbed during the rapes' natural growth.

The addition of biodiesel (not to mention using it on its own) helps reduce our dependence on fossil oil. In addition, there is virtually no waste when biodiesel is made. Instead, processing results in high-quality by-products which are either recycled back to the production process or refined to make pharmaceutical grade glycerine or phytosterol.

As the fuel of the future, verbiodiesel fulfills the requirements of modern drive systems and is subject to strict quality and sustainability requirements in the EU.

The main customers of verbiodiesel are oil companies, which add up to 7% biodiesel to their diesel (B7). According to car manufacturers, all engines can run smoothly on this ratio. In addition, biodiesel is sold for use as a fuel by itself (B100), the main buyers are haulage companies and fleet operators.

In accordance with European standard EN 14214, the feedstock used to make biodiesel is vegetable oil. At VERBIO, we chiefly use certified sustainable European rapeseed oil which is supplied directly to our plant by rail transport. We use also fatty acids from biodiesel production and vegetable oil refining which incurre as waste.  

However, biodiesel is more than just vegetable oil – for only by further processing can it meet the demands of modern engine technology. The process used in our biodiesel plants for the transesterification of vegetable oil is based on a method co-developed by Dr. Georg Pollert, who is the co-founder of VERBIO.

In the transesterification, vegetable oil and methanol react with the aid of a catalyst to produce fatty acid methylester (FAME). Glycerin is produced as a by-product, which we process in our plants to a high-purity by-product which is used in the pharmaceutical and the cosmetics industry. In addition to the transesterification plants, we operate esterfication plants in which fatty acids are converted into biodiesel.

The correct chemical name for our fuel is fatty acid methylester. Under the product name biodiesel the biofuel is being delivered to our customers by pipelines, by train or by truck.

The rapeseed oil contains fat-soluble accompanying substances, e.g. sterols. In our plants, which were put in operation at the end of 2014, the sterols are gained as a by-product from our biodiesel. We can thereby increase the added value from the raw material rapeseed oil and further increase the sustainability of the biodiesel production. We developed and patented the technology for our sterol production.