Biofuel refinery to be built in Grimsby

Plans are in place for a new biofuel processing plant to be built in the UK.

Grimsby is the intended site for a refinery designed to turn wheat into petrol, the Sunday Times reports, with Hollywood financier Tim Levy behind the proposal.

Mr Levy, who has raised money to fund films such as Iron Man 2 and The Bourne Ultimatum, is hoping to generate £220 million from investors.

He explained that construction is intended to begin this summer, with 530,000 tonnes of wheat needed to run the refinery each year.

The UK typically exports around a fifth of the 16 million tonnes of the cereal it produces annually and Mr Levy remarked: "We grow feed wheat more efficiently than anywhere else in Europe because it needs rainy, mild weather."

Earlier this year, a team from the University of Sheffield secured the Institution of Chemical Engineers' Moulton Medal, after creating a bioreactor that improves the efficiency of biofuel processing.