GUTTS Partner Abengoa Bioenergy has wrapped up construction and begun the operations at the bioethanol plan in Europoort, in the Rotterdam, Holland, port, with an investment of 550 million Euros. The Abengoa Bioenergy Netherlands company has been incorporated to manage and operate the 480 million liters-per-year bioethanol cereal (corn) plant, which is the largest in Europe, and probably in the world, to date. The new facilities will process approximately 1.2 million tons of grain and, apart from bioethanol, will produce 360,000 tons of DGS (distilled grains and solubles) annually.
Additionally, 300,000 tons of high-quality CO2 will be produced annually. Said CO2 will be transported via piping towards the greenhouses in the region and will be used to assist in the crop growth, reducing the consumption of natural gas and further benefitting the sustainability and reduction of total GEI emissions.
The plant, which occupies a surface area of approximately 57 acres, began its construction, in which more than 30 collaborating businesses have taken part, in February 2008. At some stages there the plant employed more than 1,500 workers at the same time. Currently, the plant provides permanent work to 80 employees.
The strategic position of the Rotterdam port, the largest in Europe, where the Rin and Mosa rivers converge and flow into the sea, is the main hub of European trade and permits river exportations towards Central Europe, as well as towards other Nordic destinations and those from the rest of the world, via sea shipping.
This plant in The Netherlands consolidates Abengoa Bioenergía as the leading European producer and one of the main producers in the world, with seven plants in Europe; five of them bioethanol cereal, one biodiesel and one second generation bioethanol cellulose commercial demonstration plant; all of them together totaling more than 1.5 billion liters of biofuels per year.