April 16, 2008

Green Energy in Brussels

Business Unit Ion Exchange Resins attended the World Biofuels Markets Congress staged in March at Brussels.

More than 1,300 participants from 58 countries and over 100 exhibitors were attracted to the third World Biofuels Markets Congress held in March at Brussels. Business Unit Ion Exchange Resins (BU ION) was represented with its own stand showing GreenFuel (GF) products such as 101, 202, 303, 404 and 505, manufactured by the Department for Catalysis and Chemicals Processing. Peter Haupt (Head of Marketing Catalysis and Chemical Processing), Jean Moriau (Project Manager Western Europe BU ION), and Bart Goossens (Sales Representative) answered questions from visitors. The response was lively and most visitors had come from East European countries, the Far East and Asia Pacific (APAC).

Visitors were particularly interested in GF 101, a product reducing the free fatty acid (FFA) content in biofuel from 100 to less than one percent, making raw materials for biofuel production more cost-efficient. As prices for these raw materials have increased significantly the search is on for other, less costly raw materials such as spent vegetable oil or animal fat.

BU ION attended the show with the main objective to improve its position in the biofuels market and to promote its GF products package as a complete solution. This package comprises GF 101, 202, 303, 404, and 505. While GF 101 reduces the fat content, GF 202 is used to purify biodiesel to comply with the EU standard. GF 303 removes glycerin generated during biodiesel production, and GF 404 and 505 are used to purify this glycerin further to pharmaceutical quality.