The company said this week that, aiming for an annual output of 260,000 m3 of bioethanol, the main raw material for the production of ethanol will be wheat, but other products derived from sugar production or other types of cereals will also be used to a limited extent.
Suedzucker will invest €185 million in the plant to produce 260,000 cubic metres of ethanol annually, the company said in a statement this week.
"Zeitz was a suitable site partly because of political support, but also, in particular, because of the easy availability of raw materials," added the company.
Large scale fuel producction, Suedzucker said that 700,000 metric tons of grain per year will be needed to produce 260,000 m3 of bioethanol, corresponding to a yield of about 7 metric tons per hectare over an area under cultivation of about 100,000 hectares.
"A by-product of ethanol production will be about 260,000 tonnes of high value protein feed,"added the German company. "When dried this can be sold as DDGS (distillers' dried grain with solubles) in the local feed market."