Refining and crushing

Ineos Enterprises plans to more than double biodiesel capacity at its Baleycourt Site in Verdun in France from 110,000 to 230,000 tonnes by 2008.

Following clearance by the European Commission, a new joint venture has been created that will invest more than €70m in a new oilseed crushing unit and vegetable oil refining plant at the site.

The new biodiesel facility, in the heart of France’s second largest oilseed producing region, will allow around 400,000 tonnes of locally produced rapeseed to be transformed into oil and then biodiesel.

The joint venture, to be known as Ineos Champlor, is comprised Ineos Enterprises, farming co-operative group SICLAÉ, and oil-seed crushing group C.Thywissen. Local farming co-operative EMC²  is also investing in a dedicated silo at an adjoining site that will serve the needs of the facility.

'This is a major milestone in our plans to become Europe’s premier biodiesel supplier with more than two million tonnes of biodiesel output from new Europe-wide investments by 2012, with at least half of this by 2010,' said Dr Harry Deans, CEO Ineos Enterprises.

Ineos Enterprises has been producing biodiesel at Baleycourt for more than ten years. The investment at the site is in direct response to the French government’s commitment to increase significantly the proportion of green fuels used over the coming years.

SICLAÉ is a holding company owned by three major farming cooperatives - Champagne Céréales, EMC² and Nouricia. SICLAÉ collects cereals and rapeseed from farmers in the Lorraine and Champagne Ardenne Region.

C. Thywissen operates the largest independent oil mill in Germany, and, in 2002, the Company applied its oilseed crushing expertise to biodiesel production. The latest partnership with Ineos Enterprises builds on the company’s previous joint ventures - most notably a 240,000 tonnes biodiesel production unit at Marl in Germany.

The new refining and crushing operations are expected to come on line in the second half of 2008.