UK plant ships first sustainable bio-fuel

THE first tanker of sustainably produced bioethanol has been despatched from Europe's largest wheat bio refinery, on Tees-side.

The cargo, which has been sold to Shell as part of a long-term deal, will help Britain towards its goal of cutting carbon emissions from road transport and help meet its renewable fuel obligations from UK sources. Currently most biofuels used in this country are imported.

Annual production of the new 250 million Ensus refinery is set at 400 million litres of bioethanol. This will meet about a third of the UK requirement under the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation, which requires 3.5 per cent of all transport fuel to come from biofuels in the next financial year.

The saving in carbon emissions will be equivalent to taking 300,000 cars off the road. With an annual intake of 1.2 million tonnes of wheat, the plant will also produce 350,000 tonnes a year of high protein animal feed, which will replace imports.

Alwyn Hughes, chief executive of Ensus, said: "This is a milestone for UK production of biofuels and a beacon of hope for the burgeoning green industry on Tees-side. We congratulate all those who have been involved.

"This is a win-win-win for the environment, UK jobs and the economy at large.

"We are taking in animal feed wheat, of which the UK has a large surplus, and refining it into bioethanol and high protein animal feed.

"At the same time, we are capturing all the carbon dioxide we produce for use in the food and beverage industries."

All the wheat for the plant will be supplied by Glencore Grain UK, who will also market the high protein animal feed.

The plant, at Wilton on Tees-side has cost more than 250m with a further 60m of investment from associated companies.