The biodiesel refinery owned by Profiland - Intfor in Galati will start tests in mid-July pending full commissioning. The nominal capacity is 100,000 tons of fuel per year.
"We will start tests around July 10-15th and switch to normal operation on August 1st. We are having talks to procure raw materials, but prices are rather high. If we cannot find a domestic supply, we will import from Holland," said CEO Andrei Lisinschi.
The 7 million EUR refinery is willing to spend some 3.5 million EUR per month for raw materials, namely rapeseed and sunflower. The target customers are major fuel producers across Europe, who have to use mix 10% biodiesel and 90% regular fuel by 2010 to be able to sell in Europe.