EORC, producers of Bio Power, has reported a 10 per cent increase in bio-diesel sales for the year 2006, registering a total of 1.7 million litres.

This was announced by Nick Parnis England, joint managing director and Pippo Psaila, commercial manager of EORC, Malta’s largest producer of bio-diesel, during an audio visual presentation for the media, service station owners and other strategic players in the land fuel sector held at the Coastline Hotel.

During the course of the presentation, station owners were given the opportunity to become better acquainted with the products and how it enhances car/engine performance by two of Malta’s top diesel system experts, Vincent Micallef and John Farrugia, who received formal training overseas on the various uses of bio diesel on all types of vehicles and machinery and who attended the fifth European Motor Bio-fuel Forum in September 2006 in Newcastle.

The two experts gave a comprehensive account of the

beneficial effect of bio-diesel and its problem-free adaptation. During the presentation, they dealt with a host of mechanical scenarios and bio-diesel applications. The topics tackled by the conference itself included Bio-diesel engineering – the Ford flexible fuelled vehicle; Volkswagen’s bio-fuels strategy; Fleet practices with bio-diesel in local traffic buses; bio-fuels – here to stay; Bio-fuels – an environmental and health opportunity; Building towards 2008 – evolution in the UK bio-fuels market as the renewable transport fuel obligation approaches.

In the past two months, bio-power reached another milestone in its success story when it reached 30 per cent penetration at retail level with the major stations stocking and selling bio diesel.

Bio-power is a clean burning fuel that is produced from waste oils to give Maltese consumers a win/win situation in converting a waste material that highly pollutes the environment to a clean burning fuel. Bio-power and bio diesel enhances engine and car performance and leads to better fuel consumption, but above all the use of bio diesel has a significant impact on the overall quality of life and well being of the Maltese in that through its clean burning properties it is positive from a health perspective.

Bio-diesel has full government endorsement and support, and the launching of the Green Procurement Policy aimed at promoting environmental awareness to be adopted in Malta during the years 2007-2009, is a good initiative for the bio-fuel industry in Malta.

Bio-diesel is also a net contributor to the macro economic development in Malta, serving as a catalyst for job-creation – from collection to rendering, actual production, distribution, marketing and selling.

From a health perspective, bio-diesel enhances quality of life and is particularly valuable in cases of respiratory illnesses such as asthma, allergies, cardio-vascular disease etc. It also serves to enhance and protect a clean environment. This makes bio-diesel the best alternative fuel to date and the only one that has obtained international and world approval after more than 51 million miles of exhaustive road testing in the USA alone.

Earlier this month the EORC Bio Power project reached world acclaim when one of the widest read periodicals, Newsweek magazine, carried a feature on the subject.

The EORC project achieved international recognition when it was featured in the BBC World Challenge, coming in second place in the world out of 476 projects from more than 70 countries..