May 16, 2011 [PIR/Reuters] - Novaol, a leading Italian biodiesel maker, end of April has started up a new 198,000t plant in Porto Corsini, Ravenna, on the land owned by La Petrolifera Italo Rumena (PIR).
The new plant in the Ravenna province near the Adriatic Sea will also produce 30,000 tonnes of glycerin for pharmaceutical use.
The logistic activities for the raw materials and the biodiesel and glycerine produced by the plant are carried out at the nearby PIR terminals to which the production plant is connected.
Novaol, which also controls a 250,000 tonne biodiesel plant in Livorno, said its total investment in the project amounted to about 65 million euros ($94.7 million), including 8 million euros to be spent on the glycerin production line.
Italy is Europe’s third-biggest producer of biodesel after Germany and Spain, with a capacity of 2.375 million tonnes.
But only 29 percent of its production capacity was utilised last year because of strong inflows of cheap imported fuel, Novaol Chief Executive Pier Giuseppe Polla said in a statement, adding he hoped the situation would improve in 2011.
