1m tons of wheat to end up in biofuels

The chairman of a firm that plans to use 1m tons of European wheat a year to make "green" fuel for cars, said he was "dismayed" by ill-informed criticism of biofuels.

Sir Rob Margetts, head of the new £300m wheat refinery on Teeside, argues that Britain's largest ethanol plant will reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from road transport and displace imports of soya for animal feed, currently leading to forest destruction in Brazil.

The Ensus plant will produce 450m litres of ethanol a year

The new Ensus plant, which Sir Rob calls "the biggest whisky refinery in Europe," will ferment starch from wheat to produce 450m litres of ethanol a year, more than a third of the Government's target by 2010.

The plant, which goes into operation next spring, will also produce as a by-product 350,000 tons of protein concentrate, which will be sold as food for cattle, pigs and chickens.