The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 31, 2026
Filed:
Aug. 23, 2023
Renewable Energy Group, Inc., Ames, IA (US);
Renewable Energy Group, Inc., Ames, IA (US);
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for economically producing a biodiesel product from feedstocks. Some embodiments comprise using at least one of a crude feedstock pretreatment process and a free fatty acid refining process prior to transesterification and the formation of crude biodiesel and glycerin. The free fatty acid refining process may include introducing the feedstock to glycerolysis to obtain a glycerolysis product then stripping the glycerolysis product to produce a fatty acid distillate and a stripped feedstock. The fatty acid distillate is recycled to the glycerolysis process to create more higher-molecular weight glycerides and the stripped feedstock (mostly di- and tri-glycerides) proceeds to transesterification to make biodiesel.