Researchers at Augsburg College in (Correction: Minneapolis … I was close), inspired by the work of an undergraduate student, now claim to have made a major breakthrough in the production of biodiesel fuels that could be used for vehicles and in energy production. Their new process is much more efficient than traditional biofuels and produce less waste.
Dubbed the “Mcgyan Process,” the technology, inspired by the work of Augsburg undergraduate Brian Krohn, converts most feedstocks into biodiesel fuel without using much water or producing lots of waste.
Ever Cat Fuels, a start-up co-founded by Augsburg alumnus Clayton McNeff, is building a $5 million plant in Isanti that eventually will produce 3 million gallons of biodiesel fuel a year.
Normally, companies make biodiesel fuel by mixing soybean oil with a sodium hydroxide “catalyst” in a tank that’s heated at a high temperature. But this “batch” process takes hours to complete and produces waste. The catalyst itself must be neutralized with either hydrochloric or sulfuric acid, two toxic chemicals.
The Mcgyan method employs a metal oxide catalyst that converts a mixture of alcohol and feedstock oils in a tubelike reactor to biodiesel fuel. This continuous or “flow” process makes it more efficient because it takes seconds to complete and produces little waste, McNeff said. Patents on the process are pending.
One of the feedstock oils can be algae oil, which can be produced in great quantities from wastewater. Xcel Energy Inc. has invested $4.5 million toward algae and other alternative energy work through the University of Minnesota’s Initiative for Renewable Energy and the Environment.
The timing for Friday’s announcement could not have been better. Oil prices reached record highs this week, twice breaking $105 a barrel. That’s higher than the previous peak in April 1980, when oil topped $101, after adjusting for inflation.
Augsburg is in Minneapolis, not St. Paul.