Argentina - Biodiesel in Argentina

Photo: Aldo Sessa

The country has the potential to become one of the major world manufacturers, especially in BioDiesel.

An Argentine Air Force plane was the first plane in the world to fly with biojet, a soybean-based fuel. Jorge Kaloustian, President of Oil Fox, is one of the pioneers in the development of biodiesel in Argentina, a growing reality and a strategic element in energy supply. Here, he explains the possibilities for our country in the production of the fuel of the future.

Due to the high price of the oil barrel in the world, many countries are looking for more economical and less polluting alternatives for substituted fuel. The first large export of biodiesel originated in San Lorenzo, Santa Fe; it was destined for Germany and the operation reached 1,750,000 dollars. We can also tell the experience of the 1A-58 Pucará plane that belongs to the Argentine Air Force and flew with biojet, a biofuel generated in the force's General Direction of Research and Development with support from the Secretary of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation.

This way, Argentine inserted herself into the market as a pioneer in Latin America with several projects that today are a growing reality. Not only because of their contribution to the environment, but also because they may position our country in the biorenewable fuel business.

There is nothing revolutionary in biodiesel. When its creator, Rudolph Diesel, created the engine that would be named after himself, he used peanut oil mixed with a catalyst as fuel to make it work. But hydrocarbon oil won the battle at the time. Nowadays, the situation has changed and the players start to be others. These fuels not only pollute less, but are also an almost inexhaustible resource and do not demand any adaptation to the engines we use today.

"Three months ago we signed a contract to produce oil based on marine algae. What is surprising is that, from an hectare of soybean, we get between 400 and 600 liters of oil, whereas with algae we would get 100,000 liters," explains Jorge Kaloustian (49), who holds a bachelor of systems degree and ten years ago decided to create Oil Fox, a company of Argentine investors dedicated to the exploitation of biorenewable fuels.
 
In their plant, located in San Nicolás, Buenos Aires Province, they will produce 240 tons of biodiesel annually. And with some adjustments in the processes, that figure could be doubled, which would make it the largest in the world.

In Chubut, a company named Biocombustibles Chubut S.A. that has recently signed a letter of intent along with Oil Fox and the provincial government to promote the production of biodiesel made from algae oil, is producing 10 tons of biodiesel daily, becoming one of the most successful ventures in the country.

Cases of companies dedicated to biofuels are starting to crop up from north to south throughout the country, strengthening commercial links that go across our borders in search of new horizons. "If we planted caper surge in the north, which is a wild oleaginous, colza in Patagonia, soybean in La Pampa and algae in the sea littoral, Argentina could provide biodiesel to the whole world," said Kaloustian.