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Jim Tolson - Press Release

12 Oct 2006

Bio-diesel processing Facility in Rosyth

This new facility, which processes oil seed rape to a fuel, was unanimously backed by West Fife councillors yesterday (11 October) including Dunfermline Scottish Parliamentary Spokesperson Jim Tolson.

Jim said “This facility is a first for Scotland and is a very welcome boost for the local jobs market as well as the environment. The basic operation of the plant involves converting oil seed rape into Bio-diesel fuel. The Rosyth facility will be capable of producing up to 50 million litres of Bio-diesel per year (approx 100,000 tonnes).

The vast majority of the raw material will arrive by ship minimising the need for polluting lorries on local roads. Any lorry movements will not need to be routed through Rosyth as the new strategic link road will be completed before the plant is operational.

Green issues will be a key theme in the Scottish Liberal Democrat’s manifesto (Bright Future – A Vision for Scotland) which will be discussed at our Autumn conference in Dunfermline on Saturday (14 October).  The conference will also discuss to raise the minimum age for purchasing cigarettes to 18 years and tackling serious anti-social crime.

Notes:
Other quotes from the West Development paper.

Processing – the seeds are offloaded, examined for impurities and then heated and rolled using mechanical crushing methods into flakes. The next process is to use solvents (Hexane) to extract the remaining oil.

Current high prices for Mineral Oil have also acted as a driver for the production of alternative fuels.

The proposal is well served by infrastructure and access facilities and no objections have been raised. Bt Transportation services indeed, it is this location criteria which attracted the development on the site  in the first instance.

Renewable energy development – NPPG6 is intended to support an increase in renewable energy developments in Scotland.

The Bio-Diesel plant will not only produce a fuel from crops, it will also provide a small degree of electricity to the grid and potential bio-products for combustion at Longannet Power Station.

The NPPG specifically highlights Biomass based energy crops as having the potential to contribute to sustainable and economic development.

The development will convert rape seed oil into bio-diesel, which can be added to mineral diesel.