Last week, I went with a few of my colleagues to visit San Francisco’s Water Pollution Control Plant, where one of the Entrepreneur Showcase presenting companies, BlackGold Biofuels, has a facility that turns sewer grease into biofuel. The grease found in sewers is a big concern for utilities, and San Francisco alone estimates it spends $50 million/year on costs associated with sewer grease. BlackGold’s system not only alleviates the grease problem, it turns it into a profitable product.

Over at the plant, Emily Landsburg, BlackGold’s CEO, and Alexandre Miot, a Process Engineer at the plant, gave us a tour of BlackGold’s setup, which is the first commercial facility of its kind in the U.S.

The BlackGold Biofuels system

Once fully commissioned, BlackGold will get dewatered grease directly from this system, a few meters away:

Dewatering System at the Plant

For now, while it is still in commissioning, BlackGold is using these vats of dewatered grease to produce its biofuel:

Dewatered Grease

The dewatered grease goes into the BlackGold system, through which it is made into biofuel.

BlackGold Biofuels CEO Emily Landsburg with a sample from the system

Learn more about BlackGold Biofuels in an upcoming Pitch of the Week post!