FCL Biofuels and Prio to launch biodiesel in the UK

UK-based supplier FCL Biofuels has collaborated with European sustainable fuel company, Prio SA, to launch the Portuguese consumer fuel PrioBio in the UK.

The biodiesel will be available from 1 November 2007, assisting forecourt fuel retailers to meet the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO).

By the end of 2007 the partnership's two biodiesel refineries in Romania and Portugal will have a total capacity of 200,000 tonnes, which will reach 400,000 tonnes by the end of 2010.

'The RTFO is the minimum our governments need to be doing to move us into a more sustainable future,' says Colin Walker, MD of FCL Biofuels. 'We see ourselves as the ideal biofuels partner because we control the whole supply chain from plant to pump. We plant the seed, grow it, harvest it, and refine it in one of two, specialist, European-based biodiesel refineries. We then deliver it through our in-house logistics and it's all backed up with our sales and marketing.'

The majority of the company's feedstock is grown in Europe. The crops grown are mostly indigenous: sunflowers in Portugal and rapeseed in Romania.

The RTFO is a requirement on transport fuel suppliers to ensure 5% of all road vehicle fuel supplied to the UK composed of sustainable renewable sources by 2010.

Prio SA is the biofuels division of Martifer Group. The group has earmarked an investment of about €320 million, comprising over 22 thousand hectares of land under cultivation for biofuel feedstock, two biodiesel refineries and its own storage and distribution networks.