Austria-based food company Agrana has opened a new EUR70m wheat starch processing facility at its site in Pischelsdorf, Austria.
This new facility marks an expansion of the current range of starch-based products at the site to include wheat starch in addition to the existing corn and potato starch ranges.
The facility has been constructed alongside the company's existing bioethanol plant in an effort to utilise 100% of raw materials.
According to the company, the wheat starch facility will process about 250,000 tons of wheat per annum to produce 105,000 tons of wheat starch and 23,500 tons of wheat gluten in addition to 55,000 tons of wheat bran.
Wheat starch is used in a variety applications such as in the paper industry, food industry for the production of noodles, bread and other bakery products. Wheat gluten is used in the baking industry to refine flour and in the manufacture of pet food products as well as in fish food, while wheat bran is used as animal feed.
Agrana chief executive officer Johann Marihart said that the company's aim is to maximize the efficient use of commodities by means of the optimal tapping of synergies at its production sites.
"This closed-cycle form of commercial operations means that we are a major step closer to achieving this objective as a result of the wheat starch production in Pischelsdorf," Marihart added.
The integration of the wheat starch processing plant and the existing bioethanol facility will allow the company to use cereals processed to an extent of 100%, the raw material components from the manufacture of wheat starch and gluten will be used in the production of bioethanol as well as for the production of animal feed marketed as ActiProt.
In addition, the CO2 is extracted from the fermentation tanks of the bioethanol plant by the industrial gas company Air Liquide.
Agrana is a leading sugar company in Central and Eastern Europe and is a supplier of specialised starch-based products in Europe as well as a major producer of bioethanol in Austria and Hungary. The company has revenues of over €3bn and employs 8,500 people across its 56 production sites in 26 countries worldwide.
