Tereos to launch 200GWh biomethane facility at mothballed sugar factory

In France, Tereos and the Lénéo company, a start-up offering innovative solutions in the field of green energy, have signed an agreement for the creation of a production site for biomethane, fuel and decarbonized products in Morains. The project led by the Lénéo company consists of building a unit on the former Tereos distillery site in Morains capable of producing more than 200 GWh of biomethane or fuel annually. This project, which will allow the maintenance of industrial activity on the Marne site and the creation of 35 jobs, represents an investment of more than 60 million euros.

Since the announcement of the project to close its Morains distillery in March 2023, Tereos has been fully mobilized to identify an industrial project ensuring continuity of activity on the site. An approach that has been materialized by the agreement concluded with the company Lénéo. Lénéo’s project consists of producing energy from local organic matter (crop residues) and providing competitive decarbonized products for local stakeholders, in

particular the agricultural world. To ensure this energy supply, Lénéo will also use water and co-products from Tereos’ sugar beet processing activity. This innovative concept is based on a process that is virtuous in every way: 1 tonne of crop residues can be used to produce the energy equivalent of approximately 200 liters of diesel in the form of biomethane or bioLNG. In the long term, a production of more than 200 GWh per year of renewable gas, corresponding to approximately 50% of natural gas consumption in the Epernay urban area, is envisaged. Lénéo’s manufacturing process also produces an organic amendment that allows stable carbon to be returned to the soil. The future production tool is expected to be commissioned by 2028-2029.