Technip announced yesterday it had been awarded a turnkey contract to build the 100,000 tonnes per annum biodiesel unit for French biodiesel operator Diester Industrie.

The new unit will be built near Compiègne in Venette, doubling biodiesel production at the site once it starts operations, scheduled for the third quarter of 2006.

The biodiesel project will receive benefits under the French government’s program to support the development of biofuels as a means to reduce transportation-related pollution.

The new biodiesel unit will be based on the Axens process developed by French petroleum research and development institute IFP.

Technip said the contract marked a new step in its collaborations with Diester Industrie in France, which include a 1996 biodiesel unit construction contract in Rouen and another unit currently under construction in Sète.

Diester Industrie is a subsidiary of Sofiproteol, a French oilseed and protein crop firm.

The French commonly refer to biodiesel as “diester”, a contraction of the terms "diesel" and "ester methyl of vegetable oil".