China Approves 3 Biodiesel Projects

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC, en.ndrc.gov.cn) approved biodiesel projects by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC, www.cnpc.com.cn), China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (www.sinopec.com) and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC, www.cnooc.com.cn), according to a report by Industrial Info Resources (www.industrialinfo.com). The projects total about 170,000 tons per year.

CNPC
The CNPC project will be located in Sichuan province”s Nanchong City and include two parts — biodiesel and fuel ethanol. The biodiesel section is expected to cost $26.1 million and 60,000 tons per year, and the fuel ethanol section is expected to cost $115.9 million and produce 100,000 tons of alcohol.

Sinopec
Sinopec signed an agreement with Guizhou in October 2007 to set up a 50,000-ton-per-year project in the province. The company has begun to plant Jatropha curcas to use as feedstock.

CNOOC
CNOOC had announced that it will build a biodiesel plant in Hainan province. The first phase of the project was said to be able to produce 50,000 tons of biodiesel per year, but the NDRC”s approval notice reported the capacity at 60,000 tons per year. CNOOC planted about one million square meters of Jatropha curcas in July 2007 to use for long-term production.