BIOMASS IN WANZE

[BIZ: Wanze, April 22]
A new bioethanol manufacturing plant has recently opened in Wanze. It is owned by the Wanze Sugar Refinery, founded 170 years ago and the biggest in Belgium. The German group Südzucker, a European sugar giant, will make an investment of EUR 245m. This massive capital outlay should lead to the creation of around one hundred direct jobs in Wanze, but also several hundreds of indirect jobs in fields such as transport, maintenance, logistics, etc. BioWanze will be the fourth ethanol production factory run by Südzucker, which already has infrastructures of this type in Germany, in France and in Hungary.

The Wanze plant will produce 300,000 m² of biofuel per annum, which represents 75,000 hectares of wheat and 12 000 hectares of beet. Südzucker has obtained a guarantee from the government that 125,000 of these 300,000 m² will be sold by petrol companies established in Belgium, who will be granted tax incentives to do so.

The USD 350m project has a 79 mgy (million gallon per year) annual capacity for ethanol produced from wheat and sugar syrups.

The use of biofuel meets a triple objective, as it will not only limit the emissions of C02 and reduce the energy dependence of Belgium, but will also create a new economic channel for agriculture. In total, 10,0000 farms will, in fact, be potentially concerned by the supply of wheat and beet to BioWanze. The project developers affirm that they will first turn to farmers in the Hesbaye region, where there are around 4,000 farms, for their supply of raw materials. If the contribution of the Belgian farmers is not enough, the Wanze factory will also call on suppliers in France and in Germany.

The work on the fitting out of BioWanze started in June. The developers hope that BioWanze will be operational as from Autumn 2007. The factory on the banks of the Meuse is also proud of its ecological credentials, in particular with regard to the fuel that will drive its operations. In fact it will use bran, i.e. the outer husk of the wheat, to supply its installations.

http://www.biowanze.be/