Beleg has started a discussion over in Connections
that I'm moving over here cuz I'm wondering if it's
the same as what you all have been talking about
as the Fox/Ginosar method. Beleg writes:

"I'm interested in the INEEL solid acid
(clay/zeolite) transesterification catalyst
and supercritical CO2 catalyst regeneration
scheme. (see US Patent #6103948).After considerable
slogging through the archives, I finally found
some brief/vague references. Fairly disappointing.
I've talked to Ginosar, and the BD development is
not currently being funded. I haven't found a clear
explanation for why this catalyst hasn't been
licensed/developed further."

I read the patent and it seems to have nothing
to do with biodiesel. Ginosar's name is on it, but
that's the only connection I see. Is this what
all the fuss is about, or is there some other
patent that actually concerns biodiesel??

You will find details of their patent in 'The non-glycerine method' over in Making Biodiesel. I couldn't find their US patent but as they had a UK patent pending I found it on the UK office website easily enough.

H

OK, here you all are... sorry about the newbie factor.

I've already searched the list for this specific topic, and I found so little that I didn't even bother to download it. If there is a substantive discussion, then could somebody reference it for me??? TIA

Meanwhile, I've already referenced USP6103948 (Soldi catalyzed isoparaffin alkylation at supercritical fluid and near-supercritical fluid conditions.) At the time, this was all that I found...

Provo, this patent is written up in typical patent/chemistry code...

Technically, this is a whole group of techniques that go together. There is the alkylation reaction proper(BD alkylation.) The BD alkylation is catalyzed with a solid acid catalyst (a Zeolite clay.) Finally, there is a catalyst regeneration step.

(This last regen step is the bottleneck for the whole process.)

Altho, the practical/backyard method of BD synthesis is referred to as a transesterification/saponification, the most general term for BD alkylation IS as an alkylation. This is largely a matter of semantics.

The $$$ in solid acid zeolites is in the petroleum industry (BIG surprise! :-P) So, this is also a more useful/general description for THEM. :-)

Meanwhile, this is a very, very hot area of petroleum research that's being held up by the catalyst regeneration issue.

Ginosar et al (INEEL principal investigator) appear to have solved the problem. They regenerate the poisoned catalyst with supercritical CO2.

OK, why am I interested? Here's the payoff: this whole process is reported to yield BD and pharmaceutical/food grade glycerin!!!

For the record: there are 3BD esters per glycerin. Last time I checked, the glycerin is at least as valuable as the BD, and I'm not including the value of the net waste disposal savings.

So, that's my take on the issue. Comments???