A new patent could end up being a big boost to the canola-based biodiesel industry.

Biodiesel Magazine reports that Clean Power Concepts Inc. of Regina, Saskatchewan has picked up an exclusive patent that will allow it to extract protein from lipid sources from biodiesel production plants:

Originally developed as a result of scientific research conducted by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans, CPC President and CEO Michael Shenher said the patented technology is ideal for extracting proteins from canola meal where it then can be converted into livestock, chicken and fish feed products and sold into those respective markets. Deploying the newly-acquired patent technology, according to Shenher, would be ideal for financially distressed biodiesel manufacturing refiners or existing producers running on a reduced capacity basis seeking additional revenue streams.

“We believe that this is going to be able to change the economics of biodiesel production because it’s going to significantly supplement the revenue from the canola crush operations,” Shenher said. “There’s a lot of interest right now in value-added agriculture and aquaculture feed products.”

The company plans to put the process in place at its own 5 million-gallon-a-year biodiesel plant in Regina and hopes to license the technology to other biodiesel producers.