Plans for a new £200m pound biofuels plant to be built in the United Kingdom have been met with mixed receptions
The plant, the biggest in the UK, is a joint venture between fuel giant BP and Associated British Foods (makers of Twinings tea and Kingsmill bread) with the American company DuPont also holding a small 10% share. Is it planned to come into operation in late 2009 producing 330,000 tonnes (420 million litres) of bioethanol per year.
One of the reasons behind the plant is to meet the government regulations stating that companies like BP must have 5% of its outputs as biofuels by 2010. The plant follows on from a previous venture by the three companies which is coming online this month, it is expected to produce 55,000 tonnes of bioethanol a year.
It is expected that the plant, being built in Hull at the Saltend facility (an existing chemical works site) will soak up two to three million tonnes of surplus wheat that is being produced each year in the UK. It will create 70 new jobs as well as getting a lot of farmers back to farming their land instead of relying on EU grants.
Not only are they producing the already used bioethanol but a small scale plant is being made which will produce 20,000 litres of a more advanced fuel, biobutanol. The advantage of this fuel is that it can be made from bi-products of crop production and a higher ration of this fuel to petrol/diesel can be used in an engine.
Scepticisms
Friends of the Earth are neither for or against the plant. On one hand they are very much for green fuels – the carbon emissions of bioefuels compared to petrol are considerably lower as most of the CO2 released by its combustion is offset by the crop’s absorption. But two main worries over the production of biofuels exist.
Bioethanol is produced from wheat that could otherwise end up as food, this may lead to an increase in food prices putting further pressure on third world countries.
The second issue is that the higher demand for wheat will lead to more of the crop being produced, and land is needed for this. Friends of the Earth wants to see regulations put in place to ensure that any production is sustainable.
“We are neutral on this kind of proposal because we support green fuels, but you have to be careful because you could destroy the British countryside and the habitat for wildlife with the intensive growing of wheat,” said Roger Higman, campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth.
As with all new technologies we must be careful not to jump on the bandwagon and make sure that we understand the implications of its use before mass deployment.
