Vivergo opens £350m bioethanol plant in Hull, UK

Vivergo Fuels, a bio-fuel company, has officially opened its £350m bioethanol plant in Hull, UK.

The plant developed under a joint venture between AB Sugar, BP, and DuPont will have an annual production capacity of 420 million litres of bio-ethanol at full capacity.

With the plant in operation, Vivergo is expected to become the UK’s biggest wheat buyer with 1.1 million tonnes of commodity expected to be purchased every year.

Inaugurating the plant, UK Business Secretary Vince Cable said that the government is working in collaboration with industry to develop stronger supply chains, attract investments, secure thousands of jobs, support skills and research and development.

"Vivergo is a good example of how joint ventures, using the financial support and expertise of big companies, can not only create local jobs but also help meet the energy security and fuel demands of our country and support local farmers," added Cable.

The bioethanol plant, to be built on a 25 acre land within the Saltend Chemicals Park, will also produce 500,000t of protein-rich animal feed every year.

Vivergo has stated that the plant has created 80 full time jobs, and additional jobs are anticipated through the supply chain.

Vivergo managing director David Richards noted: "Our business is a great example of sustainable economic growth, ensuring that valuable commodities such as bioethanol and animal feed which ordinarily would have been imported are produced here in the UK.

"Our location right on the Humber is ideal; we’re at the heart of the UK’s wheat belt which offers some of the best yields in the world, and our channels for distributing the bioethanol either by ship or by road to depots where it is blended with petrol, are second to none."