Energy & Mobility: Enabling Sustainable Fuel Production
Global events like the Soccer World Championship, from international air travel to regional transportation, highlighting the growing need for more efficient and sustainable fuel solutions. Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and biodiesel are key to reducing emissions, but their production relies on optimized, high-performance chemical processes.
One critical step in fuel production from lipid-based feedstocks, such as vegetable oils, animal fats, and used cooking oils, is degumming. This pre-treatment process removes phospholipids and metal ions (e.g., Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺) that can negatively affect downstream catalytic reactions, reduce yield, and impact final fuel quality.
How BASF Industrial Formulators solutions support fuel production
At BASF Industrial Formulators, Lutropur® MSA (methanesulfonic acid) is used as a high-performance acid in degumming and downstream processing:
- Enables efficient hydrolysis of phospholipids, improving feedstock purification
- Provides effective removal of metal ions, supporting catalyst protection and process stability
- Demonstrates higher efficiency at lower dosage and shorter reaction times, compared to conventional acids
- Avoids introduction of phosphate residues, helping reduce wastewater treatment challenges
- Offers high purity and stability, produced via BASF’s chlorine-free air-oxidation technology
Beyond degumming, Lutropur® MSA also supports esterification and neutralization steps in biodiesel production, enabling higher conversion rates, reduced fouling, improved phase separation, and enhanced overall process efficiency.
By integrating Lutropur® MSA, customers can improve feedstock quality, enhance process efficiency, and reduce operational complexity. This enables more flexible use of various feedstocks, optimized production performance, and support for sustainable fuel pathways, helping producers meet increasing demand for reliable, low‑emission biofuels.
Why BASF
With strong expertise in chemistry, process optimization, and industrial applications, BASF combines global capabilities with local support to enable scalable, high-performance solutions for fuel production.
Watch the video to learn how our solutions support more efficient SAF and biodiesel production processes.