March 3, 2025
pre2fuel: Cleared for takeoff
The world is ready for decarbonization in the transport sector. Long-haul trucks and aviation lag the gains made in passenger rail and personal vehicles. Thanks to GEA Pre2Fuel, that change is coming. The innovative process marks a milestone in the pretreatment of biofuels such as hydro-treated vegetable oil (HVO) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). By eliminating the bleaching process, manufacturers benefit from significant savings potential: over 50% lower operating costs and up to 12% less CO2 emissions. Let’s dive into the world of this soaring Pre2Fuel technology.
Where are we starting from? Biodiesel with a 7% blend (B7) is already widely used. It belongs to the first generation of biofuels. With HVO and SAF, we move into the second generation of biofuels. Julian Poll, Product Manager for Sales in the Business Line Renewables at GEA, explains the process and the advantages: “A major advantage of these fuels is that they are so-called drop-in fuels. This means that HVO can be used 100% in existing diesel engines, for example in rail transport or marine engines – without the need for new engine technologies. At the same time, SAF is fully compatible with conventional Jet A-1 kerosene and can be blended into aircraft turbines without any modifications. It can even be mixed with fossil kerosene in airport fuel depots without any problems. As electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft are still dreams of the future, SAF is currently the most sustainable solution available.”
From waste to value – understanding HVO and SAF
The biofuels of the future will be obtained from waste products such as used cooking oil, animal fats from rendering processes (category 1-3), palm oil mill effluents and non-edible vegetable oils such as carinata. The challenge: While the raw materials are often of poor quality and highly contaminated, the end products must meet the highest purity standards – in some cases even exceeding those of the food industry.
Anything other than small fry: Used cooking oils and other leftover oils and fats are the perfect feedstock for HVO and SAF.
Another important factor is the efficient collection of used cooking oils. Companies with large trucking fleets rely on a decentralized collection system by driving from restaurant to restaurant to collect used frying oils for further processing. In Austria, container stations are also used to facilitate the collection of used cooking oil for HVO production.
For processors, it is essential that the pretreatment reliably achieves the required specifications – regardless of which feedstocks are being processed or mixed together. “We call this blending,” says Poll. “The processors receive a wide variety of raw materials in different qualities, and the pretreatment must be able to handle them. We have tested this extensively. Our results: No matter which feedstock we have tested, pure or blended – in any case, GEA Pre2Fuel was better than the conventional process in terms of phosphorus and metal reduction.”
GEA Pre2Fuel can handle all kinds of feedstocks in all kinds of qualities or blends. Extensive tests have shown that no matter which feedstock was tested, GEA Pre2Fuel always had better results in terms of phosphorus and metal reduction than the conventional pretreatment process.
Pre2Fuel masters even the most challenging feedstocks – from used cooking oils to animal fats – with maximum efficiency, flexibility and purity.
Julian Poll
Product Manager Sales, Business Line Renewables at GEA
GEA Pre2Fuel meets increasing demand
According to the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation, 70% of the aviation fuel consumed in Europe must be SAF by 2050 – with an intermediate goal of 6% by 2030. These ambitious targets raise the question: How can biofuels be produced more efficiently and sustainably? “The key to an optimized process is the innovative pretreatment using GEA's Pre2Fuel process. While bleaching earth is still used in the conventional process, this cost-driving and also environmentally disadvantageous factor is now completely eliminated,” explains Poll.Goodbye bleaching earth, welcome cost savings
Pre2Fuel's approach is to purify the raw materials so thoroughly in the second stage that the third stage – bleaching – is no longer necessary. This leads to cost savings of up to 50% in pretreatment, as the purchase, safe handling and disposal of bleaching earth are no longer necessary.The second stage after the PE (polyethylene) filtration is degumming, which has been optimized by the experts at GEA in two key areas. “Firstly in terms of purity – with significantly lower residual phosphorus and metal contents – and secondly in terms of efficiency – with reduced oil losses,” says Poll. Eliminating the environmentally harmful bleaching stage also means an up to 12% reduction in CO₂eq emissions. GEA’s results have been scientifically validated by extensive tests, including by TÜV Rheinland. “Anyone using our process can rely on being able to process raw materials of inferior initial quality sustainably and efficiently,” he adds.
Time for scale-up
The first step into the big leagues has been taken – the first installation of GEA Pre2Fuel will be set up in Asia. “Larger plants have a processing volume of 600 tons per day. This is a top priority for us, because as sophisticated as the process is, nothing is more convincing than a customer reference at world market level. We expect demand to be highly dynamic as a result – our Pre2Fuel team is ready and waiting,” assures Poll. To put things in perspective: there are currently around 86 plants worldwide that produce SAF and HVO using different processes. A further 262 plants are planned by 2031. Considering the huge benefits of Pre2Fuel compared to the conventional process, there is enormous potential for this GEA solution.
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