The Belgian Federal Government rewarded the BioWanze project of Raffinerie Tirlemontoise with a guaranteed 125.000 m³ bio-ethanol adjudication.

The Belgian Federal Government last summer set up a legal framework for biofuels and issued a tender offer for biofuel producers based on criteria such as climate protection, energy efficiency, technology and sound economics.

Today the Government announced the adjudication of the bio-ethanol and bio-diesel volumes resulting from this tender. Raffinerie Tirlemontoise/BioWanze have been awarded with a yearly bio-ethanol volume of 125.000 m³.

As Thomas Hubbuch, CEO of the Raffinerie Tirlemontoise Group, puts it: "Given the experience in the Südzucker Group, and the efforts with which our people prepared the tender offer, we were confident to get an important volume. It is this experience and these efforts which have now been justly rewarded. Our  confidence - after all we started in June with the works and in September with a first wave of hiring some 30 people without any guarantee - is hereby fully vindicated. Furthermore we applaud the Belgian Government for setting up a framework which anticipates already now the final target for 2010 of the EU-Biofuels-Directive."

The Group considers this good news to be moreover a further guarantee for a better future for our Belgian agriculture and for the creation of an important new industrial sector in Belgium, creating employment, know-how and export revenues.