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| Holland: Bioethanol Rotterdam to open 100,000 ton/yr plant |
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| Wednesday, 21 June 2006 | |
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Rotterdam, June 20 - Bio-ethanol Rotterdam (BER) have announced that they will open a 100,000 ton/yr ethanol plant in late 2007. Chemical Processing Consult (CPC), HES Beheer and the Holland Innovation Team are the main initiators behind the new plant, which will provide 40 jobs in the local community.
BER has signed an exclusive licencing agreement with the English company TMO Biotec, which has developed a new (more efficient) fermentation technique, thus making the production process less expensive.
The plant configuration selected allows surplus electrical energy to be sold into the grid. This is achieved by combusting the by-product DDGS (dried distillers grain and solubles) in a co-generation plant.
Rotterdam harbour was chosen as the location for the plant for the following reasons:
The manufacturing process also produces pure CO2, which is captured and sold to the Norwegian company CO2 Global. The companies have already signed a declaration of intent to this effect.
A number of crop farmers on the South Holland islands have set up a cooperation, BERGO U.A., which will supply a proportion of the raw material necessary for the plant.
Discussions are underway regarding the sale of DDGS, a by-product of the plant which is used by the animal feed industry.
The Rotterdam local authority consumes bioethanol in its fleet of E85 flexi-fuel vehicles.
Rotterdam is working with other European towns as part of the new European BEST (BioEthanol for Sustainable Transport) project, which started on 1 January 2006, and is managed by an EU-funded project based in Stockholm, Sweden.
David Smith, Singapore
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