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| Dickon Posnett, Development Director at Argent (left) celebrates receiving the award for Sustainable Biodiesel Producer 2009 with Markus Dielacher of technology partner BDI. |
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17 March 2009
The most sustainable biodiesel in the world is made in Scotland by Argent Energy, according to a panel of expert judges who voted in the inaugural Sustainable Biofuels Awards at the World Biofuels Markets Expo and Conference in Belgium.
The award for Sustainable Biodiesel Producer 2009 was presented to Argent Energy at a ceremony in Brussels on Tuesday 17 March 2009.
Argent Energy make their environmentally-friendly transport fuel by recycling tallow and used cooking oil at their state of the art plant near Motherwell. A relatively small company, they beat off competition from much larger Neste Oil and Mabanaft to put Scotland on the map.
Jim Walker, managing director of Argent Energy: said “Scotland led the way for the rest of the UK in the production of biodiesel when our fuel started flowing in 2005. Since then there has been a debate about the sustainability of some biofuels. We have been able to demonstrate that high quality biodiesel can be made sustainably by recycling by-products of other industries.
“We are delighted to bring the award for Sustainable Biodiesel Producer 2009 home to Scotland where we have received so much support and encouragement. And there’s more work to be done.
“There’s potential for more used cooking oil to be collected from Scottish homes and businesses through Council recycling schemes. And we want to develop our capability to use more locally-sourced used cooking oil and tallow and so reduce the distance our raw material has to travel.
“We showed Scottish climate change Minister, Stewart Stevenson MSP, round our plant just last week and we discussed these possible developments which would help deliver a cleaner, greener Scotland.”
Ends
Notes:
- Argent Energy’s biodiesel plant has been producing biodiesel since March 2005 and can produce around 45,000 tonnes of biodiesel a year, or in excess of 50 million litres.
- Legislation is now in place which requires 3.25 per cent of fuel sold at UK forecourts to come from renewable sources, with the percentage rising to 5 per cent by 2013/2014. And the UK has signed up to an EU target of 10 per cent by 2020.
- More information on the award can be found at: http://www.greenpowerconferences.com/wbm_2009/awards/index.html
For further information contact: Maria Limonci, Argent Energy Public Relations Consultant,
t: 01560 482683, m: 07753 163186.
