Bioethanol plant in Schwedt powered down – short-time working from October

VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie AG (VERBIO) powered down production at its bioethanol plant in Schwedt as planned this week. “We are currently fully engaged in carrying out intensive cleaning and maintenance work, from October it is likely that we will apply for short-time working,” comments Klaus-Dieter Bettien, Managing Director of NBE Nordbandenburger BioEnergie GmbH & Co. KG, a 100 per cent subsidiary of VERBIO.

VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie AG (VERBIO) powered down production at its bioethanol plant in Schwedt as planned this week. “We are currently fully engaged in carrying out intensive cleaning and maintenance work, from October it is likely that we will apply for short-time working,” comments Klaus-Dieter Bettien, Managing Director of NBE Nordbandenburger BioEnergie GmbH & Co. KG, a 100 per cent subsidiary of VERBIO. “If the market conditions and economic environment improve we can power up the plant and have it operating at full capacity within 72 hours,” adds Bettien.

Unsatisfactory demand, cheap imports from Brazil and high grain prices no longer permit profitable production of bioethanol. “We are simply taking the logical course of action,” explains Claus Sauter, Chairman of the Board of Management at VERBIO. “If we source our raw materials locally, we need to achieve higher prices for bioethanol. However, cheap imports mean that this is not sustainable in the current market. There are alternative strategies,” continued Sauter, “but government has to have the political will to implement them.” The options for establishing sustainable a competitive biofuel sector in Germany could be increasing the blending quota, placing limits on cheap imports or tax incentives for environmentally friendly and CO₂-efficient production of biofuels.

As an alternative to the existing production process, VERBIO is currently looking into the possibility of refining raw alcohol sourced from other suppliers to generate high-quality bioethanol. VERBIO continues to assume that biofuels represent a growth market, in particular against the background of the continuing debate about climate protection.