The uk officially opened its first ethanol plant on November 23. The plant, which actually started functioning in September this year, has the potential to produce 70 million litres of ethanol a year from sugar beet.
Initiated as a pilot project of the British Sugar--the sole British producer of sugar from sugar beet--the facility is located in Wissington, Norfolk county. The plant will process about 800,000 tonnes of sugar beet a year to extract the targeted amount of ethanol, which officials claim, will help the nation offset carbon emissions released from about 40,000 cars. "Sustainable biofuels can play an important role in reducing our carbon footprint and I am pleased to see the uk is leading the way in promoting sustainable biofuel production," said food and farming minister Jeff Rooker.
The uk government believes that biofuels will help the nation tackle climate change and is planning to introduce a new regulation by early next year, which will require 5 per cent of all retail fuels to be from renewable sources.
According to the department for environment, food and rural affairs, a five per cent biofuel addition will help the uk offset about 0.7-0.8 million tonnes of carbon per annum--0.4 per cent of the nation's total emissions.
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