Bioethanol

The construction of a bioethanol plant by the 100 per cent Nordzucker subsidiary fuel 21 is the first step into the expanding market for fuels produced from renewable resources.

Up to 1.3 million tonnes a year of sugar beet as raw material will be supplied to the bioethanol production plant starting from late autumn 2007. Raw juice will be used as the raw material for the production of alcohol during the sugar beet campaign.  Thick juice will be used when the campaign finishes. After the pilot phase, annual production over the full 12 months will rise to 130,000 cubic metres of bioethanol.

Mixing the alcohol produced in this way with petrol became mandatory in Germany on 1 January 2007. From an initial proportion of 1.2 energy per cent, the mix is stipulated to rise to 3.6 per cent by 2010.

The proportion of biogenic fuels in the EU is scheduled to rise to eight energy percent by 2015. Replacing some of the petrol with bioethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions. It improves the CO2 balance by up to 80 per cent compared to petrol. Just adding five per cent bioethanol to petrol cuts CO2 emissions by around 4.5 per cent.