News / National
Zimbabwe ethanol project a success
19 Sep 2011 at 12:56hrs | Views
THE massive Chisumbanje ethanol plant is sitting on one million litres of fuel produced in three weeks when production commenced.
The $600 million project, initiated last year, is expected to provide 70 percent of Zimbabwe's fuel needs.
Experts in the fuel sector say the project is likely to result in significant reduction in the price of petrol and a steady supply of the commodity on the market.
The project is a joint venture between the Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (Arda) and Green Fuel Private Limited.
In an interview yesterday after the tour of the massive plant in Chisumbanje, Arda board chairman, Mr Basil Nyabadza, said the plant could start distributing the ethanol fuel to processors for blending with petrol this week.
"We are expecting to get a licence from the regulatory authority anytime this week. We hope that the distribution would also commence as soon as we get the licence.
He, however, could not disclose to what extent it was going affect the current price of petrol, which was between $1,36 and $1,46.
The ratio of ethanol petrol mixture ranges between 10 - 25 percent ethanol to petrol.
Said Mr Nyabadza: "There are regulatory requirements that we need to go through and we are waiting for them to give us the greenlight and we would be giving Zimbabwe the fuel we are producing at the moment," he said.
Mr Nyabadza said the company, which currently employs over 6 000 workers will continue to benefit the communities around Chisumbabje and the greater Chipinge district.
"The project would combine planting, harvesting, processing and distribution of the product and we are expecting more people, especially from the community to be employed through this project," he said.
The ethanol plant built with a Brazilian model currently employs expatriates who are training local artisans through a technology transfer scheme.
Since 1976, the Brazilian government made it mandatory to blend ethanol with petrol gasoline.
Since 2007, the legal blend is around 25 percent ethanol and 75 percent petrol. By December 2010, Brazil had a fleet of 12 million cars and light trucks and over 500 thousand fuel motorcycles regularly using neat ethanol fuel. Bioethanol is a form of renewable energy that can be produced from agricultural feedstocks. It can be made from very common crops such as sugar cane, potato and corn.
There has been considerable debate about how useful bioethanol will be in replacing petrol and energy experts are yet to come up with answers.
Concerns about its production and use relate to increased food prices due to the large amount of arable land required for crops to process fuel.
The Chisumbanje ethanol plant is set to create the biggest plant in sub-saharan Africa with the expected output of over 40 million litres a month when full operational.
Experts say Zimbabwe needs about two million litres of fuel per day. Over 5 000 hectares of land have been put under sugar cane to sustain the production levels and more cane is expected to come from 400 outgrowers in surrounding communities.
The $600 million project, initiated last year, is expected to provide 70 percent of Zimbabwe's fuel needs.
Experts in the fuel sector say the project is likely to result in significant reduction in the price of petrol and a steady supply of the commodity on the market.
The project is a joint venture between the Agriculture and Rural Development Authority (Arda) and Green Fuel Private Limited.
In an interview yesterday after the tour of the massive plant in Chisumbanje, Arda board chairman, Mr Basil Nyabadza, said the plant could start distributing the ethanol fuel to processors for blending with petrol this week.
"We are expecting to get a licence from the regulatory authority anytime this week. We hope that the distribution would also commence as soon as we get the licence.
He, however, could not disclose to what extent it was going affect the current price of petrol, which was between $1,36 and $1,46.
The ratio of ethanol petrol mixture ranges between 10 - 25 percent ethanol to petrol.
Said Mr Nyabadza: "There are regulatory requirements that we need to go through and we are waiting for them to give us the greenlight and we would be giving Zimbabwe the fuel we are producing at the moment," he said.
"The project would combine planting, harvesting, processing and distribution of the product and we are expecting more people, especially from the community to be employed through this project," he said.
The ethanol plant built with a Brazilian model currently employs expatriates who are training local artisans through a technology transfer scheme.
Since 1976, the Brazilian government made it mandatory to blend ethanol with petrol gasoline.
Since 2007, the legal blend is around 25 percent ethanol and 75 percent petrol. By December 2010, Brazil had a fleet of 12 million cars and light trucks and over 500 thousand fuel motorcycles regularly using neat ethanol fuel. Bioethanol is a form of renewable energy that can be produced from agricultural feedstocks. It can be made from very common crops such as sugar cane, potato and corn.
There has been considerable debate about how useful bioethanol will be in replacing petrol and energy experts are yet to come up with answers.
Concerns about its production and use relate to increased food prices due to the large amount of arable land required for crops to process fuel.
The Chisumbanje ethanol plant is set to create the biggest plant in sub-saharan Africa with the expected output of over 40 million litres a month when full operational.
Experts say Zimbabwe needs about two million litres of fuel per day. Over 5 000 hectares of land have been put under sugar cane to sustain the production levels and more cane is expected to come from 400 outgrowers in surrounding communities.
Source - TH
