A Scottish company which will be exhibiting at the
LowCVP's Parliamentary Reception on March 9 has received nationwide coverage as it has become the first in the world to produce biofuel capable of powering cars from residues of the whisky industry. Edinburgh-based Celtic Renewables now plans to build a production facility in central Scotland after manufacturing the first samples of bio-butanol from the by-products of whisky fermentation.
Celtic Renewables, a spin-out company from the Biofuel Research Centre (BfRC) at Edinburgh Napier University, has spent the last year developing its process at industrial scale in Belgium as part of a £1million programme funded by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) under its Energy Entrepreneurs Fund.
It is now seeking funding from the Department for Transport’s (DfT’s) £25 million advanced biofuel demonstration competition and, if successful, hopes to build its first demonstration facility at the Grangemouth petrochemical plant by 2018.
The company's owners estimate it could be the market leader in an industry worth more than £100million to the UK economy.
The company's recent announcement that has produced its first batch of bio-butanol was
covered by the BBC and other media outlets nationwide.