Malaysian biodiesel plant contract awarded

Australian-based Mission Biofuels will build a 250,000 tonne a year biodiesel plant using Esterfip-H technology from Axens, a French-headquartered refining and petrochemical technology company.

The plant will be the largest of its kind, and will be constructed at a site adjacent to the current 100,000 tonne a year plant in Kuantan Port, Malaysia, due for completion in October 2007.

Esterfip-H is a heterogeneous catalysed technology for the production of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). Esterfip-H does not require caustic or mineral acid usage and the glycerin by-product is of high technical grade quality, above 98% purity.

The Mission Biofuels unit will run on crude palm oil (CPO), with Esterfip-H units able to operate on multiple vegetable oils. Mission Biofuels’ biodiesel will be exported to the European market. Malaysia is the world’s largest producer of CPO.

The first commercial Esterfip-H unit was opened in March 2006 by Diester Industrie in Sète, France. A second plant was completed in May 2007 at Perstorp's Stenungsund, Sweden, chemical complex and six more Esterfip-H plants are at different project stages around the world for a cumulative capacity of 1.3 million tonnes a year.

UK's largest biodiesel plant given green light

ABS Biodiesel, a UK-based biodiesel production company, will start construction of a new biofuel production facility in the UK, following a decision by Bristol City Council planning department on 3 October.

The company will invest over £21million (€30 million) in the 24,500 square foot facility in Avonmouth Docks, which will cover three acres of undeveloped land at Bristol Port.

Avonmouth Port was selected for the plant due to its close proximity to major oil terminals and refineries, as well its location in an area of high feedstock production.

The site will produce approximately 225,000 tonnes of biodiesel, with the capacity of the site enabling a potential increase to 500,000 tonnes. The company has already pre-sold its first and second year capacity.

'We see demand coming from three main areas – retailers which are looking to establish strong green credentials, petrochemical companies which will need to meet renewable fuel legislation, and hauliers, due to ever rising transport costs,' Alan Bailey, business development director at ABS Biodiesel, says.

The 191,000 tonnes of biofuels consumed in the UK is estimated to climb to 2.5 million tonnes by 2008.