UK: BP, ABF and DuPont to build US$400m ethanol plant
Wednesday, June 27, 2007, AutomotiveWorld.com
BP has signed a joint venture with Associated British Foods (ABF) and DuPont to build a US$400m ethanol plant on BP's existing chemicals site at Saltend near Hull in the north east of England. BP and ABF subsidiary British Sugar will each hold 45% in the ethanol plant with DuPont owning the remaining 10%.
The partners hope that ethanol produced at the plant will meet the 2010 Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) which requires biofuels to comprise 5% of the UK's transport fuel by 2010.
The plant, expected to begin operations in late 2009, will have an annual production capacity of about 420 million litres from wheat feedstock. BP says that though the plant will initially produce ethanol, the partners will also study the feasibility of converting ethanol into butanol once the required technology is available.
A butanol demonstration plant, funded and owned equally by BP and DuPont, with the capacity to produce about 20,000 litres of butanol annually from a range of feedstock, will be built at the BP site in Hull. John Ranieri, head of DuPont Biofuels, says the demonstration plant will begin operations in early 2009.
Formal agreements will be finalised after regulatory approvals are obtained.
Mark Carr, the chief executive officer of British Sugar, says that construction work will begin in early 2008 after obtaining the required regulatory approvals. According to Carr, front end engineering and design work will begin immediately with Aker Kvaerner leading the project while joint venture partner Praj will provide the technology expertise.
BP and DuPont also plan to import small quantities of butanol from an existing first generation manufacturing facility in China. The first delivery is expected to arrive by the end of 2007 and will be used for infrastructure and advanced vehicle testing.
In the UK, transport is claimed to account for about 21% of all carbon dioxide emissions.
Published on Wednesday, June 27, 2007
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