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Ground-breaking Ceremony for Cargill Biodiesel Production Plant in the Höchst Industrial Park
Cargill has held a ground-breaking ceremony at the site where it is to build a new biodiesel production plant in the Höchst industrial park, at Frankfurt am Main, Germany. The ceremony was attended by Bram Klaeijsen, corporate vice president of Cargill Europe; Stefan Schreiber, head of Cargill’s biodiesel operations in Germany; Secretary of State Karl Winfried Seif from the Hessen Ministry of Environment, and Dr Roland Mohr, director of the industrial park’s operating company, Infraserv Höchst.
“The Frankfurt-Main region is ideally suited for the production and supply of biodiesel – both in terms of its geographical location and in the availability of raw materials such as rapeseed oil and other vegetable oils which can be supplied via the Rhine. This plant will also benefit from its proximity to our existing oilseed crush plant in Mainz,” said Mr. Klaeijsen. “Today demonstrates Cargill’s commitment to biodiesel production and, as a key supplier of refined oil to the food industry, we have ensured that our existing operations in Germany have the capabilities to secure the supply of raw materials for both food customers and biodiesel production.”
Cargill is investing around 25 million euro in the biodiesel plant, which is currently in construction, and capacity will reach 250,000 metric tonnes per year. The biodiesel will be produced from crude vegetable oil – predominantly rapeseed oil – that is refined before entering an esterification process together with methanol and one catalyst. The biodiesel is then cleaned and the co-product – glycerine – is separated and concentrated. The finished biodiesel can then be transported by ship, rail or road tanker.
The Höchst industrial park was chosen as the location for the production plant because of its excellent infrastructure and its proximity to existing and potential Cargill customers.
To facilitate the supply of raw materials for the biodiesel production Cargill last year announced it was expanding its oilseed crush capacity in Germany and neighbouring countries.
Stable regulatory policy needed for biodiesel
During the ground-breaking ceremony, Mr. Schreiber emphasised the need for a stable regulatory policy for renewable energy in Germany.
“For Cargill and other businesses, it is important to have a stable regulatory policy as it is otherwise very difficult to make these long-term investment decisions,“ he said. “In regard to the global political goal of reinforcing the use of renewable energy sources and reducing the use of fossil fuels, changes to existing political and fiscal conditions should be made judiciously to allow further market growth for pure biodiesel (B100) and blended biodiesel (B5).”
Hessen as the location for innovative technologies
Secretary of State Seif said that Hessen supports the use of environmentally friendly and energy-saving technologies in many different ways. “The Höchst industrial park in particular has long been a place for innovation and technologies of the future,“ he said. Seif considered the decision to invest by Cargill, a truly global company, to be further proof that Hessen provides ideal conditions for industry.
Doctor Mohr also spoke about the ideal investment conditions in the Hessen region. “Cargill’s project is an enhancement for the industrial park and shows that the high quality of technical infrastructure at this location is a competitive advantage for manufacturing industries”, he said. “Biodiesel production at this location represents another step towards maximising energy from renewable and environmentally friendly sources.”
To further emphasise this, Dr Mohr spoke of hydrogencell and fuelcell technologies – a sector in which several innovative firms in the Höchst industrial park are already active.
Infraserv Höchst itself participates in these activities and among other things is using renewable fuels for energy saving. The company has a co-fermantation project relating to the use of organic waste to produce environmentally friendly biogas. This saves energy in the production of electricity and steam in the industrial park.
Editor’s Notes
Cargill
Cargill is an international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services. With 124,000 employees in 59 countries, the company is committed to using its knowledge and experience to collaborate with customers to help them succeed.
Cargill in Germany
Cargill has been active in Germany since 1955, and now has activities in grain and oilseed trading, oilseed crushing, refining and hardening, malt production, primary cocoa processing, food and feed ingredients sales, pectin production and biodiesel. Cargill has 11 locations in Germany – in Hamburg (three locations), Salzgitter, Mainz, Riesa, Barby, Krefeld, Malchin, Klein Schierstedt and Wittenberge where it has a joint venture producing biodiesel with Agravis Raiffeisen AG.
Cargill’s activities in biodiesel in Europe
Cargill has a number of actual and planned investments and joint ventures for the production of biodiesel in Europe. These include a joint venture with Agravis Raiffeisen AG in Wittenberge, Germany. Last year, Cargill announced a 50 percent increase in production capacity at its oilseed crush plants in Mainz, Salzgitter and Riesa in order to meet the increasing demand from the biodiesel and foodstuffs sectors.
In Belgium, Cargill recently announced its intention to form a joint venture with the aim of constructing a 200,000 tonne biodiesel plant at its existing location in Ghent. And in the UK, Cargill has taken a 25 percent shareholding in Greenergy’s biodiesel production business, and plans are in place to co-develop biodiesel plants in both the northwest and northeast regions of the country.
Infraserv Höchst
Infraserv Höchst, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, is a leading service and complete site operator for chemicals and pharmaceuticals sites. Infraserv GmbH & Co. Höchst KG provides companies of the processing industry with products and services in the area of energy, facility management, IT services, environmental, safety and health services. The company comprises four 100 percent owned subsidiaries: Infraserv Logistics, Provadis, Technion and Main Autoservice Höchst zur Infraserv-Höchst-Gruppe.
Infraserv GmbH & Co. Höchst has 2,089 permanent employees and a further 189 trainees. The Infraserv-Höchst-Gruppe employs 3,000 permanent employees and a further 234 trainees. In 2005, Infraserv had a turnover of approximately 812 million euro.
For more information, visit http://www.infraserv.com/en/ish_home.htm
The Höchst industrial estate is home to more than 80 businesses from a number of different sectors, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemistry, plant protection, food additives and services. Approximately 22,000 people work daily in the industrial park, which covers an area of 460 hectares. Of this space, 89 hectares are still available for new business. The current businesses invested over 340 million euro in the industrial park in 2005. The total investments in the industrial park since the year 2000 is more than 2.3 billion euro.
All press releases and photos of Infraserv are available on http://www.infraserv.com. The press hotline number is: +49 (069) 305-5413.