Bringing biodiesel to Beijing

European research teams are helping to build a biodiesel plant in China to reduce soaring levels of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

The University of Milan, the Austrian Biofuels Institute and the University of Jaen (in association with the University of Cordoba - Spain) will work with China's University of Tianjin and Malaysia's University of Malaya to build the plant, and researchers from Germany and Vietnam will be associate participants. The project is funded under the Asia Pro Eco programme of the European Commission's EuropeAid Cooperation Office and the Hangzhou Town Council in China.

Biodiesel is an environmentally friendly, renewable, ecological fuel made from vegetable oils or animal fats. Its main advantage is that it reduces gas emissions, an increasing problem in China. In 1994, the Chinese authorities released figures that showed it was the second largest greenhouse gas emitter after the US.