Pannonia Bio, the largest biorefinery in Europe, operating a multi-product biorefinery in Hungary plans to make green investments of 200 million euros in the next three years to strengthen its leading role in Hungarian agriculture.
From its beginnings as a bioethanol producer in 2012, the refinery has almost tripled in size and developed into a multiproduct facility. Today, nutrition, health, biochemical and fuel bioproducts are manufactured as alternatives to fossil materials.
Despite the challenging past year, Pannonia Bio reached significant milestones. In 2020, the company’s biorefinery in Dunaföldvár produced more than 500 million litres of bioethanol, more than 350,000 tons of GMO-free, protein-rich animal feed and more than 10,000 tons of corn oil from 1 million tons of locally produced corn. Ten per cent of the products were sold in Hungary and the rest in more than 35 countries around the world.
Ferenc Hódos, the Strategic Director of Pannonia Bio underlined that the three-year, 200 million-euro investment program launched in 2020 aims to expand the company’s portfolio and produce more environmentally friendly innovative products. He revealed that in addition to green biofuels, Pannonia Bio also plans to produce modern food and healthcare products.
“We attach great importance to the values inherent in sustainable agriculture, and we want to further strengthen good relations with local farmers,” explained Mr Hódos adding that the company’s short-term plans also include the production of barley protein, which is a huge opportunity for all players in the value chain.
Last year, Pannonia Bio also took significant steps in the field of energy efficiency, using biogas and compressed steam technologies that significantly reduced the company’s GHG emissions. The so-called MVR (mechanical vapour recompression) technology halved the company’s technological steam consumption. Innovation and green developments are at the heart of the efforts of Pannonia Bio to provide effective responses to the challenges posed by climate change, in line with Hungary’s climate strategy.
Pannonia Bio also closed a financially successful year as the company generated 95.6 million euros profit after tax in 2020. CEO of the company, Pavel Kudriavtcev highlighted that the company was able to expand last year, despite the challenging environment.
“At present, we can provide a livelihood for thousands of people and, as a taxpayer, we make a significant contribution to Hungary’s economic growth. 2021 has also started well, I am confident of further growth,” said the CEO of Pannonia Bio.
Pannonia Bio is a subsidiary of ClonBio Group (ClonBio), an Irish agribusiness headquartered in Dublin.
