Kwik off the mark

In a deal worth more than £1m,  UK renewable energy and fuels company Kwikpower International has snapped up technology that aims to dramatically increase the availability of biodiesel.

Developed by Cambridge University researchers, the technology is designed so that farmers can set up small mobile refineries to convert rape seed oil into biodiesel that they can then sell on to fuel suppliers.

Stringent new EU regulations on clean energy usage, means that commercialisation of the system is particularly timely, especially for a company such as Kwikpower, which specialises in renewable energy technology.

The system is based on a tubular oscillatory flow reactor — an intensified plug flow reactor ideally suited to relatively long, two-phase reactions, such as the biodiesel reaction. It was demonstrated for the first time at the Clean Energy Show in London earlier this year.

Conventional biodiesel production is carried out in large tanks, and involves cooking oil and chemicals being mixed together. The process is expensive as the tanks have to be emptied after each batch.