Simadan Holding recently announced it is investing €65 million ($88.6 million) in a 150,000 ton (45 MMgy) biodiesel plant expansion in Amsterdam. The plant will be operated by Simadan subsidiary Biodiesel Amsterdam. The investment includes a glycerin distillation plant scaled at 50,000 tons per year of pharmaceutical-grade product.

According to BDI-BioEnergy International, the company contracted for the plant expansion using its multifeedstock technology, Biodiesel Amsterdam began operating its 30 MMgy biodiesel refinery—also built by BDI-BioEnergy—in 2010. The expansion will bring the total plant capacity to 75 MMgy. BDI-BioEnergy says the contract, worth €47 million to the company, is its largest commission to date.

The facility is part of the largest ecological industrial complex in Europe, according to Simadan Holding. The 12-acre complex now includes a biodiesel plant, a storage terminal, a 2-acre recycling plant, a biogas plant and tank cleaning. More than 99 percent of the incoming organic waste is converted into useful second-generation products, the company says. “Our biodiesel is of the highest quality and reduces CO2 emissions by more than 85 percent compared to fossil fuels,” said Peter Bakker, owner and founder of Simadan.

Simadan Holding is a privately owned company with more than 250 employees in the Netherlands and has a turnover of €400 million per year.