Italian biodiesel production to increase 28 percent in 2008, capacity up 42 percent

In Italy, the Italian Biodiesel Association said that five new biodiesel plants are ready to come online and will increase national biodiesel capacity from 1.9 million tons and to 2.7 million tons. However the association said that the 12 existing plants produced only 469,707 tons due to high feedstock costs last year, down from more than 590,000 tons in 2006. The association is projecting that total production will reach 600,000 tons in 2008 and 8000,000 tons in 2009.

Italy background

• Italian research has detailed the potential to use tobacco oil as a biodiesel feedstock. Researchers say that tobacco is a higher-yield crop than comparable biodiesel feedstocks. A test of tobacco biodiesel as fuel for a 1 MW hospital backup generator is planned for the fall.

• The Chinese and Italian governments have initiated a feasibility study for jatropha biodiesel at Sichuan University. The project received $650,000 in support from Italy. The project is the third signed by Italy and China, promising cooperation in biofuels research since mid-April. The others covered industrial waste oil-based biodiesel in Hubei Province, and thin-film solar cells in Shanghai.

• In April, Oxem Group commenced construction on a 60 Mgy canola-based biodiesel plant near Pavia, in Lombardy. Oxem will invest $100 million in the project that will utilize feedstock from France, Germany, Romania and Hungary. Last year, only 45,000 hectares of Italian crops produce d feedstock for biodiesel, insufficient for the Oxem plant’s needs.

• In February, Mossi & Ghisolf announced that it will construct a 66 Mgy ethanol plant in Piedmont, and convert it to cellulosic feedstocks in the long run. Mossi & Ghisolf said the $148 million plant would be operational in 2009, and converted to cellulosic ethanol in a second, $177 million upgrade.

• Italy’s antitrust agency is currently conducting an investigation into illegal price fixing in Italy’s pasta industry. Pasta makers have raised prices by 60 percent last year, citing the 60 percent increase in worldwide wheat prices and the fact that 60 percent of the cost of pasta is wheat.

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