BDI completes retrofit of 10 MMgy biodiesel plant in Greece

A biodiesel plant remodeled by BDI-BioEnergy International AG in Volos, Greece, owned by Elin Biofuels S.A., was officially opened at a ceremony attended by representatives of the local political and business communities.

BDI contracted for this major retrofit commission in Greece, worth €3.6 million ($4.86 million), at the beginning of 2013. The aim of the retrofit optimization project was to increase both raw material flexibility and the quality of the final biodiesel product via the remodeling, expansion and process optimization of an existing biodiesel plant that, according to BDI, was based on outdated German technology. Now, used cooking oil and animal fats can now be used as feedstock for high-quality biodiesel. The production capacity of the newly optimized facility is about 33,000 tons per year (approximately 10 MMgy). The distilled product will meet stricter quality requirements under the new EU biodiesel standard, CEN 14214/2013, according to BDI. The project was handed over to Elin Biofuels S.A. on time and on budget, the company reports.

“We are very enthusiastic about BDI’s technical skills and the professional way in which the company carried out the project,” said Yannis Courouclis, CEO of Elin Biofuels S.A., at the official opening ceremony. “Cooperation with BDI proved to be a very effective partnership throughout the project. The final outcome is better than we expected.”

“Our retrofit team successfully completed the difficult assignment of integrating the BDI system in a biodiesel technology which is not state-of-the-art from a different manufacturer, without any adverse effects on ongoing biodiesel production,” said Edgar Ahn, BDI chief science officer. “Our biodiesel distillation process guarantees that the quality of the biodiesel produced remains consistently high, even when the raw material quality is lower. The objective of upgrading and modernizing the existing biodiesel plant so that quality, efficiency and raw material flexibility are increased has been reached.”