MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

World's first tallow-biodiesel plant in Brazil

The largest world factory converting bovine tallow into biodiesel will begin production next June in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, said Wednesday Dedini industries, one of the main equipment suppliers.

The 18 million US dollars plant which is being built by the Bertin Group, one of Brazil's leading cattle farmers in the beef industry is expected to produce 100.000 tons of biodiesel annually made out of approximately the same volume of tallow.

"The input cost is 30% lower than soybeans", said Jose Luis Oliveiro, Operations vicepresident from Dedini.

The plant will be the largest of its kind in Brazil and the first to use tallow as basic input. Brazil has a cattle herd of 190.000.000.

The factory is expected to produce almost 14% of the biodiesel required to comply with the Brazilian government's target of blending 2% biodiesel with regular diesel (from oil) effective January 2006.

The construction of the biodiesel factory is also seen as a diversification strategy of the Bertin Group which is complementing its main beef production with other options such as cosmetics, footwear and fuel.

According to Sao Paulo market analysts Bertin apparently is also investing in building roads, energy and sanitation infrastructure.