Brazilian agroindustries group Bertin have begun operations at their first biodiesel factory. Situated in Lins, São Paulo state, the biofuel plant involved an investment of R$42 million (US$21 million) and has the largest installed capacity in the world. The raw material used is bovine tallow from the company’s slaughterhouse and tanning processes. The inauguration ceremony, which took place in August, was attended by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. According to Rogerio Barros, commercial director of Bertin Biodiesel, the company’s goal is to ‘supply the internal market in the early stages, and later export biodiesel, contributing an advance in clean and renewable energy.’ The plant has the capacity to produce 110 million litres of biodiesel per year and is also adapted to convert vegetable oils. The facility is fully automated and boasts the most modern equipment as well as an analysis laboratory. It covers an area of 30,000 sq m within the 500,000 sq m industrial park which houses a number of the group’s other operations. Bertin are currently the biggest employer in the Lins area, with 11,000 employees and the new plant will have a workforce of 200. According to Barros, next year will see a sharp increase in demand for the product. ‘In 2008, it becomes obligatory to use 2% of biodiesel in diesel and this will increase to 5% shortly. In terms of volume, 2% represents a demand of approximately 840 million litres per year of biodiesel; and 5% represents 2.1 billion litres.’ César Abreu, industrial director, explained: ‘Biodiesel is produced from renewable sources and substituting it for fossil fuels is a significant environmental advantage. It is biodegradable, reduces emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere, does not contain sulfur, brings gains in terms of carbon credits, and even improves the lubrication of diesel motors. It is an important step for the company in the search for socio-economic and environmental sustainability.’ Bertin have teamed up with Volkswagen, Cummins, Bosch and BR Petrobras to evaluate the fuel’s performance. As part of the evaluation, six VW 19.320E vehicles will travel 100,000km. Three will run on B20 (20% biodiesel and 80% common diesel) and the others will act as a control, running on common diesel. Their performance will be measured in a range of conditions. The Bertin group have been operating for 30 years, have 30 units and employ 30,000 people throughout Brazil.
