Bio-Alternative’s fixed refinery in Covington, Ind., provides a testing ground for continual advancements in all aspects of the Bio-Alternative systems. This facility, which produced 15-million gallons of biodiesel each year, is also home to our test BioMobile units.

All units in the BioMobile system are designed at a scale consistent with the BioMobile 5800, which is capable of producing 5.8-million gallons of biodiesel annually. Additional units may be added to the system to allow for increased production. Our researchers continue to explore variations in size and design that will enhance usability and capacity without sacrificing portability and economy.

A key challenge in the biodiesel industry is simply keeping up with the demand for affordable feedstock oils. Bio-Alternative has made significant progress in developing a new process that efficiently extracts oil from algae. The Bio-Alternative Algae Oil Extraction Process is unique in that it does not require traditional steps (dry and press) to remove the water and oil from the algae — a process that is both time consuming and costly. Instead, the Bio-Alternative process involves a chemical additive that separates the membranes of the algae. Bio-Alternative’s patented catalyst reacts with the algae oil, and this creates biodiesel. The only byproducts are water, the remaining algae, and biofuel. We are currently testing this technology on full-scale models.