Biodiesel Plant and Facilities Tour Including Vanguard’s Port on the Red River

Vanguard Synfuels’ biodiesel production facilities and office building. The plant is able to produce 15 million gallons of fuel per year

The Vanguard Synfuels’ plant was the first biodiesel plant in Louisiana when it first opened in 2006. A second one opened in Geismar in 2011

Making biodiesel requires feedstock such as soy oil, animal fats and used cooking oil - all brought in typically by rail, but also by trucks

A micro-motion meter records very accurately how much feedstock or biodiesel is either being loaded or unloaded

A biodiesel plant needs lots of steam, above a gas fired boiler

Before any feedstock can be converted into biodiesel, pre-treatment to remove high fatty acids and moisture must be conducted. Some of the equipment above handles this

Once the feedstock meets certain pre-treated conditions, it is released into the next stage where it is reacted using a catalyst with methanol

After the feedstock has been pre-treated by using a process called esterification it is stored in vessels at left. Then as demanded is sent to the reactors on the right

Above methanol and methylate (the catalyst) lines pull from the tanks above and the extremely volatile chemicals are sent over to the reactors

The pumps above are carefully programmed to supply the exact amount of chemicals to the reactors, plus move reacted biodiesel to the next
several steps in the production process

Reacted biodiesel is next sent to a coalescer which allows the glycerin (the unwanted part of the original feedstock) to be removed
and using gravity to separate the two

After the glycerin has been separated, the biodiesel is sent to the methanol column to remove trace methanol from the biodiesel.
At a later stage, the glycerin is also cleaned similarly

After all methanol is removed, the biodiesel is filtered (called polishing)

There are two more steps the biodiesel must undergo, being chilled to 30 degrees F (note the ice on the heat exchanger chiller above); the other,.
is followed by filtering which removes “sterols” which if not taken care of can cause issues with the biodiesel in very cold weather

The two tanks above hold the biodiesel after polishing and before chilling

Finished biodiesel is sent to tanks above before being sent to the final tank prior to loading into rail cars or trucks

The entire biodiesel producing operation is centrally controlled by a computer with the entire plant’s processes visible through a live graphical user interface

Biodiesel is tested in Vanguard’s GC lab at various stages of the production process including at the end for meeting strict ASTM specifications

Finished biodiesel is loaded at the rail loading rack and eight cars can be filled simultaneously

In the foreground, a 90,000 gallon finished biodiesel holding tank. The small white structure behind is where trucks can load biodiesel and unload feedstock

Nearby Vanguard has port facilities on the Red River to allow transportation of biodiesel by barge. The river connects to the Gulf of Mexico to the south and the
Mississippi through a canal to the east

Two 2.25 million gallon storage tanks adjacent to loading facilities (not seen at left)

The port facility also has a 650,000 gallon heated and insulated storage tank. At right, loading facilities for tanker trucks