Ensus Announces Partnership with Yara;Ensus Biorefinery Will Supply Both Food and Fuel

London - The Ensus Group, which is building Europe’s largest biorefinery in the North East of England, is pleased to announce it has secured a long term partnership agreement with Yara International ASA for the supply of carbon dioxide. Following the agreement, CO2 raw gas from the Ensus production process will be supplied to Yara for use in the growing UK food and beverage market. This means that all of the outputs of the Ensus facility will be put to effective use in either the food or renewable transport fuels industries.

Under the terms of the partnership agreement Yara is to build a new liquid CO2 facility close to the plant at Teesside where Ensus is converting wheat grown in Britain into bioethanol and high protein animal feed. The new plant will enable Yara to supply a growing number of customers in the UK, as well as Scandinavia and Northern Europe.

Alwyn Hughes, Chief Executive of Ensus, said “We are delighted to have made this arrangement with Yara. The whole point of building our plant is to refine wheat into value adding products for the food and transport fuel industries.”

“This means that the whole output from our plant will now be going into food or fuel – two thirds as animal feed or supplies to the food and beverage industries and one third as biofuel to help the UK meet its commitments under the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation. This is an important part of the UK’s strategy to promote green energy and reduce carbon emissions from transport, whilst scaling back our dependency on imported fossil fuels such as oil.”

“This agreement represents the final piece of the jigsaw falling into place. We believe that we are now well and truly set up to make a significant positive contribution in the battle against climate change. Even excluding any credit from the CO2 arrangement itself, the bioethanol produced by Ensus will generate carbon savings of around 70% relative to the fossil fuel displaced. Furthermore, our high protein animal feed product will enable Europe to reduce its imports of soy, which tends to be grown in areas where the world is trying to protect carbon rich land, such as rainforest. As a result, we can actually help reduce some of the pressures leading to deforestation.”

“Reducing the demand for oil should also help moderate the impact of the current record oil prices, which are causing such pain for UK consumers at the petrol pump.”

Thorleif Enger, President and CEO of Yara, said “There are many challenges and opportunities involved in sustainable development. Bioenergy holds great promise and we are looking forward to growing our knowledge and competence in this area together with Ensus, one of Europe’s leading players in the evolving bioenergy market.”

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Ensus
The Ensus biorefinery on Teesside is expected to be completed mid 2009. Once operational it will produce approximately 400 million litres of sustainable bioethanol and 350,000 tonnes of high protein wheat extract for animal feed. Ensus will produce enough bioethanol to meet around one third of the requirement under the UK’s Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation. As a result the Ensus contribution will be equivalent to taking 300,000 cars off UK roads. www.ensusgroup.com

Yara
Yara International ASA is a leading chemical company that converts energy, natural minerals and nitrogen from the air into essential products for farmers and industrial customers. As the number one global supplier of mineral fertilizers and agronomic solutions, we help provide food for a growing world population. Our industrial product portfolio includes environmental protection agents that safeguard air and water purity and preserve food quality. Yara’s global workforce of more than 8,000 employees represents great diversity and talent enabling Yara to remain a leading performer in its industry. www.yara.com

Bioethanol
Sustainably produced bioethanol is a renewable and environmentally friendly alternative for petrol driven vehicles. It is produced using farm crops as the raw material. Due to the carbon dioxide absorbed by the crops as they grow, use of bioethanol as a transport fuel results in a substantial net carbon saving relative to the oil-based alternative.

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