US Patent Issued to Renewable Energy Group on March 31 for "Methods and apparatus for producing biodiesel and products obtained therefrom" (Iowa Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 31 -- United States Patent no. 12,590,267, issued on March 31, was assigned to Renewable Energy Group Inc. (Ames, Iowa).

"Methods and apparatus for producing biodiesel and products obtained therefrom" was invented by Martin Haverly (Ames, Iowa), David A. Slade (Ames, Iowa) and Jared Downey (Iowa City, Iowa).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Methods and apparatus for economically producing a biodiesel product from feedstocks. Some embodiments comprise using at least one of a crude feedstock pretreatment process and a free fatty acid refining process prior to transesterification and the formation of crude biodiesel and glycerin. The free fatty acid refining process may includ...