Improving the productivity of Biodiesel plants through their adaptation for the production of polyols

Project Information

B-Ecolyol

Grant agreement ID: 719885

DOI

10.3030/719885

Project closed

EC signature date 17 March 2016

Start date 1 February 2016

End date 31 May 2016

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Secure, clean and efficient energy

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

BETA RENOWABLE GROUP SA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - B-Ecolyol (Improving the productivity of Biodiesel plants through their adaptation for the production of polyols)

Reporting period: 2016-02-01 to 2016-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Biodiesel production plants are subject to periods of involuntary inactivity due to market fluctuations in the pricing of raw materials and/or increasing competition from imports which lower biodiesel selling prices and consequently make production unprofitable.
Our experience in the bio-refinery sector and in the development of engineering processes for the valorization of used oil enabled us to see that used oil and biodiesel could also be used as raw materials for the manufacturing of other products within our plants, and in this way avoid inactivity periods
B-Ecolyol aims to increase the productivity of biodiesel plants through their adapting for the production of polyols using used oil and biodiesel as raw materials. Our innovative process will enable to obtain sustainable polyols (with a 98% bio-based content) using mild operating conditions, and thus reducing global warming emissions and energy consumption by 36% and 61%, respectively compared to petroleum derived polyols

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In order to confirm the feasibility of our project we have carried out a 4-month study consisting on:
- Technical Plan: characterization tests of our products show that they are appropriate to use as raw material for coating, adhesives, sealants and elastomers (CASE applications) manufacture. And the analysis to adapt the biodiesel plant to produce bio-polyols as well, is favourable.
- Analysis of the subsequent stages of the supply chain for the production of coatings shows that because of technical reasons, it is not possible carried out. However, we have stablished relationships with stakeholders (CETEM) to validate and give support to commercialize our technology in this sector.
- Commercial Plan and exploitation strategy: thorough market analysis performed has identified our target markets (wood coating and adhesives & sealants), which present great potential. Commercial strategy has been defined introducing our technology in Europe for those markets as providers of bio-based polyols and offering engineering services and technology to biodiesel producers as well. We will penetrate in the market in three stages: 1) national market (Spain), 2) Germany (the largest producer of these sectors), 3) France, Italy and UK.
- Financial feasibility study: this demonstrated the economic feasibility of our project, confirming estimated prices of products (2.8€/kg) and services (240,000€/kg), taking into account operational costs and profit margins.
- Development of complete Execution Plan for the Phase 2 project, including planning, organization, risk analysis and budget.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

We expect to deploy the B-Ecolyol technology in the European market, introducing a new processing method for the production of bio-polyols (98% bio-based content) from used oil or biodiesel at a competitive price (2.8€/kg) which will reduce the environmental impact of manufacturing of this kind of products (36% less global warming emissions and 61% less non-renewable energy than not-bio-based polyols). And it will enable biodiesel producers to use their plants for a different application in low productivity periods, thus increasing their revenues and competitiveness.
It will also enable our company to grow, both financially- achieving revenues of approx. €17.61 million and profits of €4.04 million in 2023- and in personnel- we will hire 9 more people.

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