Clariant's New Product Tonsil 9193 FF Boosts Cost Efficiency in Feedstock Pretreatment

Clariant's recently launched Tonsil 9193 FF helps improve cost-performance ratios in the pre-treatment of various oil feedstocks. This new-generation adsorbent addresses growing demand for bio and renewable fuel production with an adaptable solution for purifying a wide range of feedstock sources, including plant-based oils, animal fats, or other waste streams. Erik Wolski, Global Head of Marketing Refining, Clariant Functional Minerals, said: "Our customers' challenge is to remain flexible when sourcing feedstocks without compromising production processes. Through innovation, Clariant is overcoming these difficulties and continuously developing its refining portfolio to meet the increasing requirements of multiple feedstock sourcing." As a result of the European Union's Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), demand for renewable diesel is outpacing the supply of traditional feedstock sources such as vegetable oils. In response, renewable diesel producers are increasingly turning to alternative sources such as used cooking oil (UCO), animal fat, and palm oil mill effluent (POME). However, these vary significantly in quality and present new challenges for production processes. Pre-treatment is a vital step in removing contaminants that would shorten and jeopardize the life of the catalyst used in diesel conversion. Clariant has developed a specialized adsorbent, Tonsil 9193 FF, which serves as a safety barrier adapted to the range of contaminants found in these diverse feedstocks.

For advanced feedstocks with changing quality characteristics, the adsorbent's responsiveness to dosage is particularly important. The Tonsil product series is made using sustainably extracted bentonite clay, which provides improved filtration at optimized dosage requirements.

Tonsil 9193 FF is specifically designed to particularly optimize process cost-effectiveness by helping to strike an ideal balance between selective removal of contaminants, minimal feedstock losses, and prevention of process bottlenecks. These advanced properties facilitate adsorption of phospholipids (gums), soaps, large polar/non-polar compounds, and trace amounts of heavy metals in these advanced feedstocks. Filtration performance is rated "FF" (Fast Filtration) with filtration times averaging 40 to 70 seconds (according to standard method BE 0013). Carlos Rodriguez, Global Head of Product Management and Technical Sales EMEA, Clariant, explains it briefly: "Tonsil 9193 FF is a safeguard for customers having to contend with uncertain qualities in biodiesel pre-treatment." Tonsil 9193 FF is available in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and ensures reliable product supply from four EMEA facilities. This product provides a solution to the feedstock variability problem and gives producers greater flexibility in feedstock sourcing and growing confidence in achieving robust production processes. Tonsil® is a registered trademark of Clariant in many countries.