Ethanol Production to Increase In Zimbabwe

Chisumbanje Ethanol plant re-opened in Zimbabwe on March 25, 2013. The Southern African nation has a policy of indigenization and Look East., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Ethanol production to increase

Sunday, 15 September 2013 09:38
Emilia Zindi recently in Chisumbanje
Zimbabwe Sunday Mail

Chisumbanje Ethanol Plant is expected to increase ethanol production from 250 000 litres to 350 000 litres per day by year-end following the installation of an additional fermentation machine. This comes
as the bulk of the 4 000 workers who were laid off after the plant closed in 2011 have been reinstated as the plant gears towards full-scale production.

Production manager Mr David Muwandi told The Sunday Mail last week that moves were afoot to increase output in line with mandatory ethanol blending. He said the product which had remained in storage tanks after previous production is now being moved onto the market where it has been well received.

“Things are moving well. We are busy installing an additional fermentation machine which will see us increase production from the current 250 000 litres a day to 350 000 litres.

“Storage is no longer an issue since the product is now going out onto the market. It is clear from the volumes we are taking out that people are now appreciating the product unlike in the initial stages.”

Mr Muwandi said the plant began with a low blend percentage fuel, E5, to gauge the market response.

He said all the over 4 000 employees were retained although some are yet to receive back-pay.

“I think Government thought we would not be able to meet demand if we started on E10 as we had initially proposed. But I can assure you that very soon Government will realise we have the capacity to go as far as E85. We are paying our employees a percentage of the back-pay until we settle all arrears. So far so good. As you can see, everyone is busy working.’’

Employees interviewed last week thanked Vice-President Mujuru for ordering the re-opening of the plant.

“We are happy because we are back at work. The time we spent away was a nightmare as most of us survived on vending, selling wild fruits. You can imagine how many fruits one had to sell to raise school fees as well as buy food for the family,’’ said a female employee who refused to be named.
The US$600 million Chisumbanje Ethanol Plant was closed following disagreements over investment terms, resulting in thousands being laid off.

In a notice last month, the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) said Green Fuel (Pvt) Ltd, the ethanol fuel producer, had complied with conditions set by Government in terms of the law. The authority assured motorists E5 fuel is safe for petrol-powered engines and conforms to international trends.

India, Thailand, the United States and Australia are among the countries that have invested in bio-fuels.

Experts say the benefits of ethanol blending include reducing vehicle tailpipe emissions, improving the octane rating of fuel and national energy security.

“The public is advised that the quality specification of E5 fuel conforms to Standards Association of Zimbabwe Standard: ZWS964 Part 1 for fuels and is based on internationally recognised quality standards for this type of fuel,’’ said Zera in its notice.