by Ian Archer (Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre/Biofuels Digest) … Sugar beet is already grown in relatively small amounts in Scotland as a feedstock for heavily subsidised biogas production. But growing the crop on a large, commercial scale has not happened since the early 1970s when the last processing factory in Cupar, Fife, was sold and production became uneconomical. However, in 2020 a new trial of high-yielding modern varieties saw the first crop in half a century successfully harvested at a competitive yield, paving the way for its re-introduction.
The case for doing that in Scotland is clear: it can be used in the production of bioethanol as a natural and sustainable substitute for petroleum-based chemicals used in a range of household goods, as well as antibiotics and therapeutic proteins. What’s more, the introduction of the new E10 mandate for transport fuel, meaning 10% of petroleum must be blended with bioethanol, has effectively doubled the need for sustainably sourced ethanol overnight.
In short, we need a lot of ethanol. Yet, all of Scotland’s supply is currently imported from Europe. Casting a wider net, demand for ethanol across the UK is estimated at around 1.5 billion litres – with Scotland representing about 10% of that figure – but there is only the capacity to produce around 900 million litres from three facilities in England. There is a clear UK-wide shortfall that Scotland could address with the creation of a local supply of sugar beet and a new biorefinery to process it.
‘Beeting’ climate change and creating jobs
Transforming Scotland’s existing chemicals industry in this way could not only protect it for the future, but create new economic opportunities too. Many of the 11,000 jobs currently in the sector would be protected as the buyers of its products move towards sustainable alternatives to fossil fuels, while our recent report for Scottish Enterprise found that at least another 815 would be directly created, many of which would likely be in rural and deprived areas. Hundreds more could also emerge in associated supply chain and logistics services.
No longer relying on ethanol imports from overseas would also make a significant difference to Scotland’s carbon footprint. Our analysis suggested that a local supply of sugar beet and a dedicated biorefinery facility could remove 280,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year – the equivalent of taking nearly 61,000 cars off the road.
We also identified Dundee – for its proximity to suitable agricultural land – or Grangemouth, near Falkirk, because of its access to power generation, water treatment, a major port, and existing chemicals cluster as the optimal locations for a bioethanol plant.
A just transition for Grangemouth
Wherever the facility is located, it will be the cornerstone for ethanol production as Scotland’s gateway product. It is big enough to pique farmers’ interest in growing sugar beet and investing in the agricultural technology required to grow the crop again. This is the driver we need to develop a bio-based chemicals sector, re-aligning the industry centred around Grangemouth with the future needs of the global economy.
The carbon capture from ethanol alone is big – the 280,000 tonnes I mentioned above. But it is even greater for the entire chemicals industry in Scotland. Grangemouth produces around 200,000 tonnes of polyethylene each year, all of which comes from fossil carbon. Each tonne produced emits two tonnes of CO2 when it is being manufactured. Producing polyethylene from sugar, by contrast, actually captures the same amount of carbon, meaning we could create a carbon negative industry – a development we have already seen take place in Brazil. READ MORE