Biorefinery: Spend $30,000, Save $500,000 Yearly

Yes, if your operation runs several high mileage automobiles every day, this $30,000 biorefinery by Allard Research can churn out enough ethanol and biodiesel to save your operation $500,000 a year in fuel costs.

Texas-based Allard Research and Development is now selling the “world’s first mini-refinery” for consumer use that produces both ethanol and biodiesel.

....it can crank out up to 120 gallons per day of ethanol and 450 gallons per day of biodiesel:

Consisting of two pieces of equipment — an ethanol boiler and the mini-refinery — the whole system can fit into an area of less than 30 square feet with 8 feet of clearance and is completely automated. _Domestic Fuel

You will need to find a source of vegetable oil--waste oil from restaurants is a good choice--and feedstock for fermenting ethanol. The ethanol boiler will distill ethanol fuel from fermented brew. The entire process is computer controlled and automated and can produce both ethanol and biodiesel simultaneously.

Regular readers of AFE will understand that the writers at this blog prefer cellulosic fuels or algal fuels to fuels from crops such as maize or soy. Of course, if the economics works out for your operation you may consider giving such a unit a go. Eventually small scale gasifiers plus small F-T units will allow ranches, farms, and other small fleet operators to make fuel from cellulosic biomass, or small scale bioreactors will allow direct production of fuels from biomass and CO2 using either biological systems of microbes or biomimetic systems of biologically derived or biomimetic enzyme systems outside of an organism.