AE Biofuels to build biodiesel plant in Argentina

13 June 2008 00:01  [Source: ICIS news]

BUENOS AIRES (ICIS news)--AE Biofuels plans to build a new biodiesel production plant near the city of Rosario, located in the Argentine province of Santa Fe.

The company has signed a joint development agreement with DS Development, a subsidiary of DS Group.

The plant would produce 75m gal/year of soy-oil based biodiesel and 25,000 tonnes/year of glycerine. The facility will have a feedstock capacity of 250,000 tonnes/year.

The company intends to complete the project by the end of 2009. However, the construction of the plant is subject to obtaining the necessary financing.

AE Biofuels will own 90% of the entire project. Plant permits and feedstock agreements are in place.

“Biodiesel manufactured in this facility will be mainly destined to the European market” a sector analyst told ICIS news.

However, since past January, the European Union is working on a new regulation about sustainability requirements, in order to protect native forests.

“The authorities want to be sure that, for example, biofuel based on soy crop is not a result of deforestation,” according to Claudio Molina, executive director of the Argentinean Biofuels and Hydrogen Association.

Argentina is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of soy oil, and has sought to foster local biodiesel production.

According to the agreement signed by AE Biofuels and DS Group, the new facility will be built by De Smet Engineers & Contractors, while Belgian company Desmet Ballestra will be in charge of providing technology and engineering.

Desmet Ballestra, has 28 years of experience operating in the Argentinean market, where the company has supplied technology for several major oil companies like Patagonia Bioenergía and Renova, both in San Lorenzo, Santa Fe Province.

The Belgian company also developed the technology support for AE Biofuels’ current palm oil and glycerin refining projects, and a biodiesel plant in Kakinada, India.

This Asian facility could be the main destination for the glycerine produced at the Argentina plant, in order to process the product into pharmaceutical-grade glycerine.

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By: Cristina Kroll
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