Technip has been awarded by Diester Industrie a turnkey contract for a new biodiesel (*) unit, based on the Axens process, to be built in Montoir-de-Bretagne, near Saint Nazaire, France.



The background of this project is the program set up by the French authorities for the development of biofuels, intended to reduce transportation-related air pollution and the dependence on imported energy.

This new unit, with a future capacity of 250,000 t/y, will start-up in the spring of 2007.

This project marks a new step in the collaboration between Technip and Diester Industrie, the pioneer and leader in France for the production of Diester: in 1995, Technip built a unit in Rouen, France and is currently carrying out the construction of two other units in Sète and Compiègne, France.

(*) Biodiesel or Diester, obtained by the transesterification of vegetable oils (sunflower or colza oils), is used in a mixture with diesel oil for diesel engines. Transesterification is a chemical reaction during which a fat or oil is reacted with an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. Biodiesel is a biofuel that represents a clean and renewable energy.

A diagram illustrating the manufacture of biofuels is available upon request.

With a workforce of 21,000 people, Technip ranks among the top five corporations in the field of oil, gas and petrochemical engineering, construction and services. Headquartered in Paris, the Group is listed in New York and Paris. The Group’s main operations and engineering centers and business units are located in France, Italy, Germany, the UK, Norway, Finland, the Netherlands, the USA, Brazil, Abu-Dhabi, China, India, Malaysia and Australia. In support of its activities, the Group manufactures flexible pipes and umbilicals, and builds offshore platforms in its manufacturing plants and fabrication yards in France, Brazil, the UK, the USA, Finland and Angola, and has a fleet of specialized vessels for pipeline installation and subsea construction.