18th November 2010

Ensus welcomes new study showing advantages of wheat-based bioethanol in reducing global deforestation pressures

Ensus has welcomed the findings of a new study commissioned by the Department for Transport which shows that the impact of wheat-based bioethanol on indirect land use is much lower than other biofuels – and will bring about  a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions caused by indirect land use change .

The study, by E4 Tech, was commissioned by the Department in the face of concerns that the use of biofuels intended to reduce carbon emissions was indirectly resulting in environmental damage through the bringing under cultivation of land which had previously been grassland or forest.

But because the wheat refining process used to produce bioethanol by companies like Ensus produces high protein animal feed alongside bioethanol, it will actually reduce the pressure on third world land by replacing imports of soy meal, which is the marginal source of European high protein animal feed.

The report states, “the modelled indirect land use impacts of wheat ethanol are much lower than the other biofuels..This is mainly due to the large credit given to wheat bioethanol by assuming that wheat distiller’s grains (the co-product) are used as an animal feed. The negative indirect land use factors indicate that the factor would result in an indirect land use credit for wheat rather than a debit.”

Alwyn Hughes, Chief Executive of Ensus, which operates Europe’s largest wheat bioethanol plant on Teesside, said, “We are very encouraged by the findings of this report. We have consistently stressed the environmental benefit of wheat-based bioethanol, and the key point that we produce both food and fuel from the same wheat.”

“This report confirms that by using wheat for biofuels, we can actually reduce pressure on natural resources in the third world and we are convinced that there is enough arable land available across Europe to supply the quantities of wheat we require.”

“There are major differences between biofuels in their environmental effects and it is vital that the Government and the EU support the good biofuels such as wheat bioethanol”.

(‘A causal descriptive approach to modelling the GHG emissions associated with the indirect land use impacts of biofuels’, E4 Tech study for UK Department for Transport, http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/environment/research/biofuels/pdf/report.pdf)