EDITOR’S NOTE: Millions of Ethiopian are currently facing starvation while companies affiliated with the ruling Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne) use the country’s fertile lands in southern Ethiopia to grow crops for producing gas — which is more profitable than food. The beneficiaries of the profit are only members of the Meles crime family and its opportunist supporters.
Ethanol production to increase 16 fold in Ethiopia
Source: Capital
By Muluken Yewondwossen
In the next five years, the Ethiopian government Woyanne plans to produce 130 million liters of ethanol from the current 8 million liters per annum and an ethanol stove factory is also start to production.
According to Sinkinesh Ejigu, State Minister of Mines and Energy, in 2013 the country will produce over 130 million liters of ethanol from three sugar factories; Methara, Wonji, Finchaa and “Tendaho, which is under construction and will be completed soon as the fourth sugar factory in the country,” said the state minister at the workshop that Gaia Association organized on July 31, 2008.
At the same event, Tadese Haile, State Minster of Trade and Industry, said that Ethiopia has the capability to produce enough ethanol and provide to every household.
In 1999, a plant was built at the Finchaa sugar mill to produce ethanol from molasses by fermentation. This plant currently produces about eight million liters of ethanol per year, of which about two million liters are used by local industries. Finchaa is under expansion and projects to produce 16 million liters of ethanol per annum with in a year.
Ethiopia has a large, government-owned sugar industry, which produces about 115,000 tons of molasses per annum as a by-product.
In a related development, Makobu Enterprises, in partnership with the Gaia Association, have already developed expertise to produce ethanol fueled ‘Clean Cook’ stoves for exclusive manufacture under license from Dometic AB, a Swedish company.
According to Kasahun Bekele, owner of Makobu Enterprises, the factory which is being built at Tulubolo, 81 km west of Addis Ababa is invested at a cost of 2.5 million birr including two ethanol depots, which are under construction in Sebeta, 25 km from Addis Ababa in Oromia region and also Kality.
He told Capital that, the first completed stoves will be ready within 45 days, and the factory will provide 500 stoves per day. “Within six months we will increase volume up to 1500 units and have plans to export to other African countries,” he added.
Makobu Enterprises was established in 1991, and is engaged in agriculture and family health programs.
The stove, approximately 290 mm wide, 240 mm deep and 160 mm high for the one-burner model, is constructed from stainless steel. The stoves burn ‘technical ethanol’ (96% ethanol, 4% water).
Currently, the imported single burner stoves cost about 530 birr each. This will come down to about 320 birr with local manufacture, or 530 for a two burner model. Ethanol costs about 2.8 birr per liter at the factory, and will retail at about 3.5 birr per liter allowing for denaturing and distribution costs, according to the information that got from Gaia.
Currently 15% of imported fuels come as kerosene, primarily for use in cooking. Kerosene is more expensive for the nation to buy than the other petroleum fuels. It is still cross subsidized in gasoline. The savings achievable by this project in displacing kerosene during the first 7 years, assuming just a moderate scale-up, is in the range of 150 million birr.
The potential earnings in carbon credits by burning bio- fuel in place of a petroleum fuel are estimated at net 1.5 million birr.
The Gaia Association was formed to take the stove programme forward, initially in Kebribeyah refugee camp is giving for 1,780 families ethanol stoves and a ration of one liter of ethanol per day with UNHCR.
The Association buys ethanol from the government under an annual contract which has just been renewed. The ethanol is denatured with a bitter additive, to make it unpalatable for drinking, and it is also dyed blue so that it cannot be mistaken for water. This is done at the Gaia Association office in Addis Ababa, before the ethanol goes out to the camp.
Ethanol is currently transported in a 13,500 liter tanker from the sugar mill to locked storage tanks at the Kebribeyah refugee camp. The Gaia Association is buying three 30,000 liter tankers which will be large enough to supply the two camps. Each refugee family has to be registered with the UNHCR, and is issued with a stove and coupons for ethanol through the UNHCR rations system. Every ten days, the family exchanges a coupon for ten liters of ethanol.
By the end of April 2008, the Gaia Association had supplied CleanCook stoves to 1,780 refugee families in Kebribeyah refugee camp, and 50 to households in Addis Ababa. It also had 3,200 stoves on order: 800 for Teferi Ber camp; 2,000 stoves for a government housing development; and 500 for a Catholic social housing programme.
Gaia Association was (non-governmental organization) founded in 2005 with the mission of revolutionizing the household energy sector in the country by introducing ethanol as a household cooking fuel.
On June 21, 2008 in London, Gaia Association won the world’s leading green energy award, the Ashden Award, for being the promoter, according to the judges, of an outstanding sustainable energy project in Ethiopia