A foundation stone was laid at Hungarana Ltd’s new biomass plant on Monday at Szabadegyháza. With the 1.5 billion HUF (around 4,800,000 euro) investment the company will cover 100 % of it’s production related steam and heat demand.

Fazekas Sándor minister of agriculture emphasised in his speech –at the event-: "the company is planning on long-term, demonstrated by successful development works year by year". He added: "Besides progression the company takes environmental protection seriously as well, as it only uses Hungarian, GMO-free raw materials, produce bioethanol for vehicles and are expanding the biomass furnace released in 2012". 

The minister said, that Hungrana burns 60 thousand tons of straw and around 12-15 thousand tons of sunflower husk pellets on a yearly basis, which provides 2/3 of its steam and heat demand. He noted, that with the launched developments said proportion will raise to 100%. 

Fazekas Sándor emphasised how in the 1990's Hungrana merely had a capacity of 400 tons of maize processed daily, while today it has a capacity of 3,500 tons a day. The company's market position is strengthened constantly, they are Europe's most prominent maize processor, while for over a 100 years the company has been a significant player in the Hungarian market – he added.  

The minister also talked about how the company produces good quality raw materials on a higher level. For the enhancement of processing developments are needed, which is supported by the government through EU resources, in the frameworks of the GINOP and ÉLIP tenders.

Reng Zoltán CEO of Hungrana Ltd. has pointed out in a professional conference organized with the title "Corn – gold of the present and future?", how in Hungary every four hectares are used to produce maize, while every two tons of that maize is exported without processing. He mentioned that maize was used as fodder for a long time, even though it's an excellent protein source once the starch has been extracted, while it can replace imported soy, which might contain GMO.

He also mentioned how starch extracted from the maize may be used for sugar, starch and alcohol production in the food industry.

The ceo said that in the past 10 years 225 million euros of investments have been carried out and the company processes 1,15 million tons of maize currently. Of which around 310 thousand tons of isoglucose, 180 million litres of alcohol, 60 thousand tons of starch, 105 thousand tons of glucose and dextrose, 270 thousand tons of CGF forage, 44 thousand tons of gluten and 63 thousand tons of germ is produced. 

Gyuricza Csaba, director of the National Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre (NARIC) stated that Hungrana’s most recent investment draws attention to the importance of non-food agriculture. He said, on a professional basis, it is a necessary field of Hungary.

As he noted, in Hungary arable crop production can be cultivated on 4.5 million hectares, which can provide food and raw materials for around 18-20 million people. He added that with the advancement of the horticultural and livestock sector, as well as the irrigation, this number can expand to 25-30 million.

He told –the audience-, that on around 600-800 thousand hectares, the environment is not conducive to the production of traditional food raw materials, which means that alternatives are needed –for these areas-, such as the cultivation of plants, intended (and designed) for energy purposes. 

Source: http://www.dontwasteit.hu/2017/03/29/ujabb-biomassza-eromu-epul/,