2006 report showed ethanol production from beet feasible
Capital investment of €55 to €65 million for plant and modifications, and €25m to €30m to purchase the site, would have been needed, at the time.
By comparison, investment for a greenfield site would have cost €100m to €110m, plus €1m to €2m for agricultural zoned land, or €15m to €20 million for industrial zoned land.
To compete with petrol or imported ethanol, ethanol from beet or wheat in Mallow would require economic support of 26 cent per litre, compared to the 44 cent available in current excise relief schemes, according to Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith.
Ethanol production at Mallow would employ about 50 — less than 25% of the number employed during the sugar campaign. At full capacity, the plant would require crops from 50,000 hectares.
Ethanol would reduce Ireland’s dependence on foreign energy, and it results in lower carbon emissions.
When the EU reformed the sugar industry, big sugar companies pounced on ethanol as the route to recover turnover.
A payback within two or three years is expected at well-placed plants like the €250m factory at Wanze, in Liège, Belgium, owned by a subsidiary of Südzucker, the largest sugar producer in Europe.
Built beside the town’s sugar factory it’s on the banks of the river Meuse, and much of the raw material comes in, and the ethanol goes out, in river barges to Amsterdam in Holland.
Local availability of sugar beet and wheat are the main advantages for BioWanze, which has become the largest bio-ethanol plant in Belgium.
More than 2,000 tonnes of wheat are taken in per day, but sugar beet provides about 20% of the raw material.
With its biomass boiler fuelled by wheat bran, and markets for its by-products in the food and animal feed industries, Biowanze can claim to be nearly completely energy efficient.
If the grain price shoots up, Biowanze is compensated by better prices for its gluten and animal feeds — or it can use more sugar beet, if grain gets too expensive. The petrol companies which use the ethanol benefit from a tax saving — because Biowanze is a certified ‘green’ company.
