Sino-Italian biodiesel JV in Wuhan

China will cooperate with Italy in setting up a biodiesel joint venture in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province. According to the agreement signed between the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, the joint venture will convert waste oils into biodiesel. The Italian side already has invested 300,000 (US$400,908) to 400,000 (US$534,544.97) in installing a 30,000-ton biodiesel production line in Wuhan, which goes into operation next year. A survey by Hubei University of Technology showed that Wuhan discharged more than 900,000 tons of waste oils a year, which could be refined into 85,000 tons of biodiesel. (June 5, 2007)