BKZ, Cukrovary plan Hungarian, Czech bioethanol

21 June 2006 14:58  [Source: ICIS news]

PRAGUE (ICIS news)--BKZ Zrt and Cukrovary TTD Dobrovice said on Wednesday they would invest a total of  €419.1m ($529.2m) in bioethanol-for-biopetrol plant projects in Hungary and the Czech Republic.

In Hungary, Swedish-owned BKZ Zrt will spend €377m on constructing four 120,000 tonnes/year corn-based bioethanol facilities. All output, due to start in the middle of 2008, would be exported to Sweden, where the government plans to remove oil dependency by 2020, said BKZ.

The company added that the plants would be powered by the combustion of agriculture waste biomass, saying Hungary offered excellent conditions for growing corn, its chosen key raw material for bioethanol. European Union investment subsidies would be sought for the project.

The plants will be located in Mohacs, south Hungary, Gonyu in the north, Marcali in the southwest and Kaba in the east. The operator, said BKZ – 75% majority owned by Sweden’s Svensk Etanolkemi AB (Sekab) – would be EBP European Bioenergy Kft. The technology was set to come from Kansas-based ICM.

The Czech Republic's largest domestic sugar producer Cukrovary TTD Dobrovice said it hoped to have a 400,000 tonnes/year sugar beet-based bioethanol plant, created at a cost of Koruna1.2bn ($1.87m/€1.48m), in production before the end of this year.

The French-owned firm has been lobbying the Czech government for production subsidies, with the yet-to-be formed new Czech cabinet set to decide on overall biofuels subsidies in the coming months.

Cukrovary TTD said it was particularly focused on the Czech market but might export some bioethanol. It added that bioethanol can be produced more cheaply from sugar beet than from corn.

By: Will Conroy
+44 20 8652 3214

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