Ethanol refining study urged

AS fuel prices continue to rocket, it was suggested yesterday that the possibility of producing ethanol from beet at the country’s last remaining sugar processing factory in Mallow, Co Cork, should be explored.

Mallow Mayor and Cork county councillor Sean Sherlock called for a viability study on the potential of producing bio-fuel from the crop at the plant.

He said it is vitally important to secure the ongoing survival of beet processing in Ireland in the context of challenges facing the Irish Sugar company, part of the Greencore Group, with the imminent overhaul of the EU sugar regime.