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First Company in West Africa to Produce and Sell Jatropha Oil on a Commercial Scale
Biofuel Africa Ltd. has begun commercial production of jatropha oil, the first company in West Africa to move from growing and selling jatropha fruits and seeds to production and sale of jatropha oil on a commercial scale for direct use, without modification, and as a feedstock for biodiesel and synthetic diesel.
“This is a major milestone for the biofuel industry in West Africa,” said BioFuel Africa CEO and Director Steinar Kolnes. “The industry has taken some time to mature here, but now we are beginning to see the fruits of our collective labor and everyone – local farmers and communities, the government and biofuel producers – will benefit.”
In hot climates like Ghana, it is possible to use Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) without modifications (no refining or chemical additives) so it can be produced in rural areas with simple hand-operated oil presses or more advanced screw presses, making it possible for local communities to be grid-independent and create their own fuel sources easily.
The company is currently running a program to test its SVO as a “drop-in” replacement to fossil fuel for running tractors, cars, generators and other machinery. Its own equipment and machinery is already 100 percent fossil fuel-independent and thus far, results confirm that vehicles and machines running on SVO give the same performance as engines running on fossil fuel. Because purity is important, SVO should be well-filtered or purified in centrifuges before being poured into fuel tanks, however this process is relatively simple and low-cost.
BioFuel Africa had its first working farm in operation in 2007, concentrating its efforts on planting out acreage for cultivation. Between its leased lands in the north and its test farm in the south, the company currently has 660 hectares (1,631 acres) of jatropha under cultivation. In addition to jatropha fields, Biofuel Africa has also increased additional acreage for local farmers’ food crops tenfold, with plans to cultivate another 2,550 hectares (6,300 acres) of maize, rice and soybeans in 2010, producing approximately 6,000 – 8,000 tons of additional food crops for the 2010 season.
Biofuel companies that combine local food production with generation of a renewable local fuel source are proving that jatropha is an attractive and viable commodity for developing economies plagued with food security issues, exorbitant fuel prices and infrastructure lapses. BioFuel Africa also puts a heavy emphasis on community development activities such as installation of water dams and maize mills exclusively for community use, establishment of local clinics and payment for school teachers, helping rural communities to realize lasting poverty-reducing benefits from collaboration with the company.
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