[Biodiesel News] Fuel company signs £3m deal to establish second factory

Fuel company signs £3m deal to establish second factory

The Northern Echo - Darlington,UK

FUELS company D1 Oils has paid £3m for a site on Merseyside to establish a second biodiesel plant. The Teesside company has acquired ...

 

FUELS company D1 Oils has paid £3m for a site on Merseyside to establish a second biodiesel plant.

 

The Teesside company has acquired a 47-acre industrial plant at Bromborough, in the North-West, which it intends to convert into a biodiesel production, storage and distribution factory.

 

D1 said it will invest up to £8m in the plant next year to convert the existing facilities to be able to refine vegetable oil into biodiesel.

 

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Production is planned to start next year, with an initial refinery capacity of 100,000 tonnes, which is expected to double to 200,000 tonnes in 2008.

 

D1 already produces 32,000 tonnes of biodiesel at its plant in Middlesbrough, where capacity is also expected to increase to 220,000 tonnes by the end of next year.

 

Together, the two plants will produce 420,000 tonnes of biodiesel by the end of 2008.

 

Chief executive Elliott Mannis said the deal has the potential to make D1 the UK's largest biodiesel refiner within two years.

 

He said: "The acquisition of the Bromborough site signals a major step change in the group's projected capacity to produce and market biodiesel in the UK. Bromborough will enable the company to import, refine and distribute biodiesel to the key UK urban markets of Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, complementing D1's base in the North-East, and to ship biodiesel to west coast refinery customers."

 

The Bromborough site, which formerly produced fuel and lubricant additives, was acquired from The Lubrizol Corporation.

 

As well as blending and drumming plants and 24,000 tonnes of storage suitable for feedstock and processed biodiesel, it also has 75,000sq ft of warehousing and a waste water treatment plant.

 

D1 said it may look to generate revenue by allowing other companies to let the facilities not required for biodiesel production.

 

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Posted by Vince to Biodiesel News at 9/18/2006 08:27:00 AM