Ensus is often referred to in the public media as a biofuel company. We prefer to be known as a biorefiner of cereals, as each of our refinery co-products makes a major contribution to the sustainability and value of our operations.

Biorefining takes cereal grains such as wheat and breaks down the starch stored in each grain to sugars. These sugars are then fermented into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This process is very similar to what goes on in a whisky distillery. The protein and other parts of the grain are converted into a high protein animal feed. The sustainability and value of the Ensus biorefinery process depends on our three co-product streams together:

• Bioethanol for petrol substitution
• Carbon dioxide, captured for use in the food, beverage, and horticultural industries
• Animal feed (DDGS), a high-protein ingredient for cattle, pig and poultry diets

The production process is carefully managed to deliver the highest sustainability benefits and process economics across each of these co-products.

Over half of the EU’s grain output is used as animal feed, but high protein ingredients are also needed. Today, soy meal is the main high-protein ingredient in EU animal diets. Soy is a low-yielding crop that cannot be produced economically in Europe. Instead, this is grown on large tracts of land in South America where it contributes to deforestation pressures.

Cereal grains such as wheat are more productive crops than soy beans. In Europe, cereals can produce as much protein per hectare as soy beans grown in South America but capture more of the sun’s energy to give a far higher yield per hectare. The EU’s climate is ideally suited to production of cereal grains; wheat yields in Western Europe are typically seven tonnes per hectare compared to two or three tonnes per hectare for South American soy beans. The EU produces more wheat than it needs, but the surplus cannot be used as a high-protein feed ingredient because the high level of starch reduces the protein concentration.

Cereal grain biorefineries can convert this starch to form a valuable biofuel and a high-protein animal feed. The biorefinery removes starch by a process of mechanical milling, cooking and fermentation which does not significantly degrade or remove the plant proteins present in cereal grains. The resulting product generally known as ‘Dried Distillers Grains & Solubles’ (DDGS) is a high protein, low-carbon feed ingredient that can replace some of the soy meal in EU animal feed diets.

Production process