Mike Rath is senior vice president of marketing for Darling Ingredients in Dallas, Texas. He is also the first chairman of Clean Fuels Alliance America and presiding over the first conference under the new name in Tampa, Florida this week.
Darling Ingredients is in the business of animal rendering, turning edible by-products and food waste into sustainable products, and a leading producer of renewable energy. “We handle the byproducts of one in every 6.5 animals that are slaughtered,” he said. “We separate water, protein, and fat. The protein goes to pet food or feed markets, the fat is largely being used for renewable fuels, and we are a very large water treatment company.”
Rath says they are very big in the fuels market. “Here in the United States we are the largest producer of renewable diesel in a joint venture with Valero,” he said. They have facilities in Texas and Louisiana that use about 65% of North America’s waste fat and oils and produce about 1.2 billion gallons of renewable diesel annually. “This product is equivalent to 85% GHG reduction of traditional petroleum – so, we’re really in the GHG reduction business.”
He is very pleased with how the first Clean Fuels Conference has turned out this year in reaching new attendees. “We’ve got people here from Europe that produce SAF, we’ve got people from South America in the biodiesel business, animal fats and crushing business, so this has become a global conference,” said Rath.
Listen to an interview with Rath and his remarks at the conference below:
Clean Fuels interview - Mike Rath, Darling Ingredients (7:48) Clean Fuels conference remarks Mike Rath, Darling Ingredients (10:55)