Business Echo
Biofuels plant ‘will help environment’
THE man behind a £300m biofuels
development in the
North-East has outlined the
venture's green credentials in
the face of criticism of the industry.
Environmentalists say the
industry encourages deforestation
because land in some
countries has to be turned
over to grow crops for biofuel
production instead.
But Alwyn Hughes, chief
executive officer of Ensus,
said that was not the case
with the development at the
Wilton International Centre,
near Redcar, east Cleveland.
The plant will buy 1.2 million
tonnes of wheat a year
from UK farmers, including in
the North-East and North
Yorkshire.
It will be used to produce
bioethanol to be mixed with
petrol under a deal with Shell.
Current legislation allows
five per cent of fuel to be
bioethanol, which is likely to
rise to ten per cent soon, and
Ensus One, the company's
first plant, will produce 400
million litres a year.
Mr Hughes said the UK already
grows surplus wheat
for export so the Teesside
plant would open up a new
home market instead.
"The UK produces 15 million
tonnes of wheat a year so
can accommodate our needs.
There is no way we are contributing
to deforestation," he
said.
It is expected the plant will
be operational next year with
a third of its product being
fuel ethanol and a third going
back into agriculture as highprotein
foodstock.
Technical director John
Pinkney said that would reduce
the need for such foodstocks
to be imported.
Another criticism of the
biofuels industry is the level
of greenhouse gas carbon
dioxide that it produces.
But Mr Pinkney said although
a third of the product
of the plant would be carbon
dioxide, it would be recycled
for use in industrial processes
known as symbiosis.
And the company believes
that the environmental benefits
of its fuel ethanol can
only benefit the environment.
Mr Hughes said: "We estimate
that Ensus' contribution
is equivalent to taking
300,000 cars off the road."
9:52am Tuesday 22nd April 2008
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