Microfuelers: Biofuels Companies Aim Big, by Thinking Small
by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) …NGOs in Africa have been touting for some time the use of ethanol cook stoves, to replace three-stone, wood based stoves that can trigger local deforestation and expose women and girls (who do much of the firewood collection in traditional communities) to violence that comes from wider and wider sweeps for firewood.
But one of the most promising of small-scale systems are those which offer an opportunity to convert yard or farm waste to ethanol for the production of renewable power.
…These days, in California, an investment of $655,000, a farmer or local community can get into the business of producing renewable power from waste biomass processed first into ethanol and then renewable electricity. Payback, according to the figures we have obtained at the Digest, in under five years.
This is the E-Fuel system which we have been following for a while, but new detail has emerged on the economics. …
Nigeria Last March, Crownek announced that it will construct up to 16 biofuel “mini-refineries” across Ekiti state, with projects expected to be completed as soon as this year. …
Kenya Earlier this year, Gravitas Ltd, a Kenyan green energy firm, announced plans to generate ethanol-based electricity by mid-2011 using hydrous ethanol.
Gravitas has already launched an ethanol cooking stove and plans to open an ethanol bottling plant in Kisumu later this month. …
Indonesia New World Energy, and Bosch and Siemens Home Appliance Group (BSH) of Germany have partnered on a pilot project last April to distribute the BSH-manufactured Protos, a stove powered by crude plant oil instead of kerosene, the dominant cooking fuel in Indonesia. …
US Last November, Chantico Fire revved up promotion for ethanol stoves, for indoor decoration in sophisticated homes. The company offers a range of styles for its patented ‘bio fireplaces’ …
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College last week chose the B-60 Biodiesel processor as a hands-on educational tool to show students how to make renewable energy. The B-60 Biodiesel processor requires 60 minutes of assembly time and will allow students to safely produce 45 gallon batches of Biodiesel. …
