Wheat plant despatches bioethanol

Annual production of the new Ensus biorefinery on Teesside is expected to 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 2010-11. The plant will also produce 350,000 tonnes a year of high-protein animal feed, which will replace imports.

Alwyn Hughes, Ensus chief executive officer, said: ’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 CO₂ we produce for use in the food and beverage industries.’

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

The plant, located at Wilton on Teesside, cost in excess of £250m, with a further £60m of investment from associated companies. It will use 1.2m tonnes of wheat to produce more than 400 million litres of bioethanol and 350,000 tonnes of high-protein animal feed per year.