The European Union has imposed duties on U.S. biodiesel imports following complaints from European producers about subsidies. [[ID:nLC572079]
Many producers both in Britain and the rest of the European Union have shut down or severely curtailed production, blaming the imports for wiping out profit margins. Plans for new biodiesel plants have also been shelved.
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The following is a list of the remaining existing or planned biofuels plants in Britain.
BIODIESEL
Argent Energy operates a biodiesel plant near Motherwell in Scotland with the capacity to produce 45,000 tonnes a year. The facility uses tallow and used cooking oil to make biodiesel.
Greenergy operates two biodiesel plants at Immingham in northeast England with a combined capacity of 200,000 tonnes (228 million litres) a year. The plant makes biodiesel from a variety of vegetable oils and tallow.
Biofuels Corporation Trading Limited owns a biodiesel plant in Teesside in northeast England with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes of biodiesel a year from vegetable oils. The company is owned by Barclays Ventures (BARC.L).
BIOETHANOL
British Sugar (ABF.L) has built a bioethanol plant in Wissington in eastern England with a capacity of 55,000 tonnes (70 million litres) a year. The plant, which uses sugar beet as its feedstock, began production in September 2007.
Ensus is building a bioethanol plant in Teesside, northeast England with a capacity of around 315,000 tonnes (400 million litres). The plant is expected to use wheat as its main feedstock. Construction is proceeding and the plant should be operating by mid-2009.
British Sugar, BP (BP.L) and DuPont (DD.N) have announced plans to build a bioethanol plant at Hull in eastern England with an annual capacity of about 330,000 tonnes (420 million litres). The plant, which will use wheat as its feedstock, is expected to come onstream in July 2010. (Reporting by Nigel Hunt