His Royal Highness Prince Joachim inaugurates Inbicon; one of the world’s first demonstration plants for production of second generation bioethanol

This Wednesday, HRH Prince Joachim inaugurated one of the world’s first and largest bioethanol plants in Kalundborg in Denmark, where ethanol will be produced on the basis of straw.

HRH Prince Joachim was accompanied by Chairman of the Supervisory Board of DONG Energy, Fritz H. Schur, and Chief Executive Officer of DONG Energy, Anders Eldrup. Also Chairman of the EUPD-programme under the Danish Energy Agency, Torkil Bentzen, and a representative from the EU Commission, Kyriakos Maniatis, both providing financial support to the plant, attended the inauguration.

“We aim to offer a solution to help solve the carbon emission challenge facing the transport sector. Our bioethanol plant will demonstrate that we are capable of producing so-called second generation bioethanol on the basis of waste products. If our technology is well received by the global markets, new opportunities of export will evolve”, said Anders Eldrup, CEO of DONG Energy.

The bioethanol plant is being built by Inbicon, a DONG Energy technology company. In addition to bioethanol, the plant will also produce lignin bio pellets and C5 molasses. The bio pellets can be used as fuel at CPH plants, and the C5 molasses can be used for animal feed and other purposes. Thus, all elements in the biomass are being utilized.

“Already at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, we will be able to showcase our technology. Part of the fleet of cars that will be used for transporting delegates around Copenhagen during the conference will be running on Inbicon’s bioethanol mixed with petrol. Moreover, five million litres have been sold to Statoil”, said Niels Henriksen, CEO of Inbicon.


Still photos and TV footage
Still photos and TV footage from the inauguration ceremony will be available for direct use and free of charge still photos from 4.30 pm and TV footage from 6 pm) on:
http://dong.xmedia.dxp.dk
User name: Media
Password: DONGEnergy


For further information, contact

Media Relations
Andreas Krog
+45 9955 2023



Facts about the Inbicon demonstration plant

Raw materials
• 4 t/h equivalent to 30,000 tonnes of straw a year
• Enzymes supplied by Danisco Genecor and Novozymes

Annual production
• 5.4 million litres of bioethanol
• 13,000 tonnes of lignin pellets
• 11,100 tonnes C5 molasses

Employees
• 30 employees

Costs - total construction costs
• About 400 million DKK (54 mio. EUR)

Grants
• Design and construction is supported by the Danish EUDP programme with 76.7 million DKK (10.3 mio. EUR)
• Demonstration is supported by the European Seventh Framework Programme with 67.7 million DKK (9.1 mio. EUR). Support from the European Fifth Framework to development of the technology in an earlier stage has previously been granted.

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DONG Energy is one of the leading energy groups in Northern Europe. We are headquartered in Denmark. Our business is based on procuring, producing, distributing and trading in energy and related products in Northern Europe. We have approximately 6,000 employees and generated more than DKK 60 billion (EUR 8.2 billion) in revenue in 2008. For further information, see www.dongenergy.com.