Green Fuel launches ethanol-blended petrol
09/11/2011 00:00:00
by Gilbert Nyambabvu
GREEN Fuel — a US$600 million bio-energy development in the eastern
Chisumbanje district — has launched ethanol-blended with petrol on the
local market in a development expected to cut fuel costs for motorists and
help reduce the country’s fuel import bill.
The fuel was available at selected pump stations in Harare beginning Monday,
selling at US$1.36 per litre, marginally cheaper than unblended petrol,
which is currently retailing at around US$1.44 per litre.
The government has since approved a blend ratio of 10 percent
locally-produced ethanol and 90 percent petroleum, a low-level blend called
E-10 in the industry.
“The response has been overwhelming. We are inundated with calls to widen
distribution from just Harare to other provinces and we ironing out
logistics in this direction to register a national presence,” company
spokesperson Lilian Muungani told New Zimbabwe.com on Tuesday.
Green Fuel – a joint venture between private local investors and the
state-owned ARDA – plans to build six processing plants at Chisumbanje, each
with a capacity of up to 300 000 litres per day, enough to meet the country’s
present daily demand of about 2 million litres of petrol.
The project is modelled on the experiences of Brazil – the world’s leading
producer of sugarcane-based ethanol — where more than half the cars on the
country’s roads already have flex-fuel engines, meaning they can run on pure
ethanol or ethanol mixed with petrol, and around 80 percent of new cars sold
are of this type.
But blend is not new to the country. Zimbabwe first developed its ethanol
industry in the low-veld when Ian Smith’s settler-colonial regime tried to
mitigate the impact of international sanctions but the project was hit by
the lack of investment as petroleum prices plummeted in the 1980s.
However the country, along with most of the world, has been looking to
invest in renewable energy sources, alarmed at the current oil price hikes
and security concerns in the main source markets.
Still, blended petrol is not without its critics and Brazil was this year
forced to consider reducing its mandatory blending ratio as ethanol prices
spiked 27 percent owing to cane shortages blamed on poor harvests and the
lack investment in capacity expansion.
Again motorists are concerned about potential damage to their vehicles.
Muungani though insists that Green Fuel’s product is safe, adding ethanol
actually helps clean engines over time.
“Green Fuel is producing new generation anhydrous ethanol (with a water
content of less than 0.04%) using the latest technology from Brazil. This
type of ethanol is dry; it contains no water and blends easily with
petroleum,” she said in a statement.
“New generation anhydrous ethanol (also) ensures cooler engine performance
while taking out any residual water from tanks.”
The company says it will also provide support services to help motorists
keen to convert their vehicles so they can run on up to 100 percent ethanol.
Muungani said Green Fuel will produce enough ethanol to meet local demand as
well as exports into the region and other international markets.
Already the company has invested up to US$300 million in putting up the
processing plant at Chisumbanje and about 7,000 hectares under sugarcane, in
the process creating some 4,500 new jobs and helping transform a once
impoverished rural settlement into a vast and growing agro-industrial
centre.