22/12/05 (soyatech.com)  - Lurgi AG, a subsidiary of the GEA Group, is to implement the world's largest biodiesel project in Piesteritz, Eastern Germany. The order is worth EUR 64 million and was awarded by Neckermann-Renewables GmbH, a firm based in Wurzburg, Germany. This represents a continuation of the series of biodiesel plant orders that Lurgi has won recently. Since July of this year, the Frankfurt-based company has won nine new contracts to build biodiesel plants with a total value of over EUR 200 million and with an annual output in excess of one million tons of biodiesel.

As one of the world's market and technology leaders, Lurgi is benefiting from the booming demand for biofuels. Once the new plants have been completed, between 60 and 70 percent of global output of biodiesel will be produced using Lurgi technology. In Germany this proportion will be between 70 and 80 percent. The new plant will use rapeseed to produce more than 200,000 tons of biodiesel per year and is due to come on stream in December 2006.

The plant will be the first in Germany to provide an end-to-end production process -- from the introduction of the seed and its processing to the prepressing and extraction stages and, finally, to the processing of crude oil and the production of biodiesel. Lurgi will be supplying all the equipment and materials as well as commissioning the plant and training the customer's staff. This is the third biodiesel order that Lurgi has been awarded by Neckermann. In Europe, Neckermann runs biodiesel plants with a total capacity of approximately 350,000 tons, which makes it one of the continent's largest biodiesel producers. Neckermann is a company of Global Alternative Energy S.a.r.l., which is in turn held by Fortune Management Inc.

Experts forecast that global demand for alternative fuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol will increase sharply in the next few years. According to European Union plans, the proportion of biofuels is set to rise from roughly two percent at present to 5.75 percent by 2010. As a result, EU-wide demand for fuels made from renewable resources will almost treble from less than five million tons at present to just under 14 million tons per year. This provides Lurgi, as a plant engineering firm, with outstanding market prospects.