What are the benefits of distillation?
Distilled biodiesel has advanced cold flow properties because distillation does a superior job of removing minor components, such as steryl glucosides, that can contribute to filter plugging. Even with a higher cloud point, distilled biodiesel can outperform undistilled low cloud biodiesel in cold weather.
Distilled biodiesel has a lower carbon intensity score than undistilled biodiesel made from vegetable oils, such as soy. That’s especially important in regions with air quality standards, like California and some Canadian provinces, as well as with the growing number of fleets that have sustainability goals.
Distilled biodiesel is the purist type of biodiesel. This helps it blend more easily with petroleum diesel because there are fewer minor components to hinder blending.
The minor components found in biodiesel depend in part on the feedstock, and because distillation does such a good job removing those, the producer has more freedom with feedstock. This feedstock flexibility can be a benefit when there are price and supply fluctuations in commodity markets. More