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Presently, two alkaline catalysts are mostly used in the production process of biodiesel - sodium methoxide and sodium hydroxide. Potassium hydroxide may also be used as a catalyst for biodiesel production.

In both cases the process results in large amounts of alkaline toxic waste and complexity in downstream processing. Low grade oils cannot be used, oil needs to be heated and catalysts cannot be reused.

In addition Sodium Methoxide is an explosive material, which requires special care and is relatively expensive.

Sodium Hydroxide is highly sensitive to water saponification and the glycerol generated as by-product is of varying quality.

TransBiodiesel's enzyme-based catalysts provide the following advantages:

• Do not lead to toxic waste
• Reusable in multiple batches
• Low grade oils can be used in the process
• No heating is required, so much less energy is consumed
• High quality glycerol is generated as by-product
• Process requires less capital equipment
• Production costs are significantly reduced