A Nebraska biodiesel plant is being retrofitted with new technology and is hoping to be launched by summer 2015. This story from Biodiesel Magazine says Flint Hills Resources is putting Benefuel Inc.’s commercial-scale, innovative biodiesel technology into its Beatrice, Neb., biodiesel plant.

Since 2010, Flint Hills Resources has worked with Benefuel to test and validate its innovative, patented and proprietary biodiesel technology. Benefuel’s Ensel technology updates 75-year-old chemistry to provide an exciting new process for next-generation renewable fuel and industrial chemicals production. The technology is unique because it allows the use of lower cost, high free fatty acid (FFA) feedstocks such as animal tallow, unrefined oils, used vegetable oils or distillers corn oil—a coproduct of ethanol manufacturing—to produce high-quality biodiesel. This is accomplished through the use of a solid catalyst that combines esterification and transesterification into a single step, which has been a long-standing goal of the biodiesel industry. The process also ensures the final product meets or exceeds all domestic and European biodiesel standards.

“We are pleased that our Beatrice, Neb., facility will have the opportunity to bring this innovative technology to life,” said Brad Razook, president of Flint Hills Resources. “We look forward to demonstrating the technology’s commercial application and beginning production.”

Once it’s operational, the plant will be able to produce about 50 MMgy of biodiesel and employ about 45 people in the local community.