Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, July 24 -- China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), focusing on new output targets, has approved three biodiesel pilot projects involving total capacity of 170,000 tonnes.
PetroChina's Nanchong refinery will build a 60,000 tonne/year biodiesel plant in Sichuan province, Sinopec will build a 50,000 tpy plant in Guizhou province, and CNOOC will build a 60,000 tpy plant in Hainan province.
NDRC, which said the three biodiesel plants will use jatropha oil as feedstock, did not provide a timetable for the plants' construction.
In April, Gushan Environmental Energy Ltd., China's largest producer of biodiesel as measured by annual production capacity, began construction of new biodiesel production plants at its Chongqing and Hunan sites.
Gushan expects both plants to begin production in the fourth quarter. The Chongqing and Hunan plants are expected to add 60,000 tonnes—30,000 tonnes each—to Gushan's annual biodiesel production capacity.
Gushan currently operates four production facilities in Sichuan, Hebei, Fujian provinces and Beijing with a combined annual production capacity of 240,000 tonnes.
The company aims to increase its annual production capacity to 400,000 tonnes by the end of 2008 with the expansion or addition of production facilities in Beijing, Shanghai, Hunan, and Chongqing.
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].
