Europe's first waste to bioethanol plant could be operational by 2012

Europe's first waste to bioethanol plant could be operational by 2012, according to the firm behind the project.

Plans for the plant, to be located in the Tees Valley in north east England, have moved ahead after INEOS Bio won funding for the scheme.

The firm was awarded £7.3M grant from both One North East and the Department for Energy and Climate Change to build the plant.

The project will create around 40 new permanent jobs and an estimated 350 jobs during the construction.

Once operational the firm has plans to expand the site into an integrated biorefinery, combining advanced bioenergy production with advanced waste treatment by 2015.

The plant is designed to produce 24,000 tonnes per year (30M litres) of carbon-neutral road transport fuel and generate more than 3MW of clean electricity for export from over 100,000 tonnes per year of biodegradable household and commercial waste.

This would provide the biofuel requirement of around 250,000 vehicles per year and the electricity needs of 6000 households.

Chief executive of INEOS Bio, Peter Williams, said the firm was building 'Europe's first waste to bioethanol plant'.

He said: "Using our technology, the waste that is collected from homes and offices and otherwise thrown away, can be re-cycled into clean biofuel for cars and renewable electricity for homes and industry."

Luke Walsh
Source: edie net