Springboard Biodiesel’s goal was to use its in-house, innovative process and product technologies to build a small-scale biodiesel production plant that could serve as a model for other potential small-scale biodiesel producers to produce American Society for Testing and Materials -grade biodiesel easily and inexpensively at an affordable price. Springboard would produce American Society for Testing and Materials -grade biodiesel locally and reduce local, regional, and global greenhouse gas emissions associated with the current use of diesel fuel.
Springboard has successfully developed and built a pilot small-scale biodiesel fuel production facility in Chico, California, facility can produce 1,000 gallons of American Society for Testing and Materials grade biodiesel per day in a zero-waste, compact, and highly automated facility from a variety of feedstock sources. While the facility can convert multiple animal and vegetable feedstock sources, it has focused on locally sourced (low carbon footprint) used cooking oil that is less than 10 percent free fatty acid and two percent moisture, insoluble, and unsaponifiable.
With the help of the California Energy Commission’s grant, Springboard Biodiesel has completed the facility and proven the economic viability of small-scale, local biodiesel production. In so doing, Springboard laid the groundwork to site additional facilities within California, based on the same technology, operating processes, and small footprint.
