A Sit Down with Conrad Rautenbach from Green Fuel

February 19, 2018

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(The Herald) Fuel prices shot up recently before Government intervened by reducing import duty on fuel to stem the price madness that rose as a result. Questions have been raised as to the contribution of the multi-million dollar investment by Green Fuel in Chisumbanje and Middle Sabi into ensuring affordable fuel for Zimbabwe. Our Senior Reporter Freeman Razemba caught up with Conrad Rautenbach to talk about the project and other issues.

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2017 was a much better year for us compared to previous years.

We were able to significantly increase our sugarcane yields and, as a result, our production of ethanol. To give you an idea of what I am referring to, at the Middle Sabi Estate, which is under centre-pivot irrigation, we produced 138 tonnes of sugarcane per hectare in 2017, compared to 92 tonnes per hectare in 2016.

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Our factory also produces green, renewable electricity which is exported into the national grid. With our increased production, we were able to export over 33 000MW of power into the grid last year.

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We managed to plant around 1100ha of additional cane in 2016 (which equates to 8,5 million litres of ethanol) and we updated and improved our irrigation techniques which made a huge difference to our crop; namely the introduction of lay flat irrigation in Chisumbanje and green cane harvesting.

Green cane harvesting basically means that the crop is harvested green, without being burnt first. This leaves a thick trash blanket on the ground which acts as a mulch, saving up to 40 percent of water consumption due to reduced evaporation.

We also further mechanised our process, including row spacing and mechanical twin row planting, as well as introducing 10 new sugarcane varieties into our Estate.

Added to this is the fact that last year, for the first time, we had consistent power and water supply at Middle Sabi Estate ....

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Yes, unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation out there about the safety of ethanol and many incorrect rumours about risks to vehicles.

Basically, you can blend up to 25 percent ethanol with 75 percent unleaded petrol (E25) without making any modifications to your vehicle. Ethanol is clean-burning and a higher-octane fuel compared to unleaded petrol and so it actually improves the performance of your engine.

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Over 64 countries in the world now actively promote the use of ethanol as a mainstream fuel, with Brazil, for example, mandating a minimum ethanol blend of 25 percent.

In addition, fuel injected petrol vehicles newer than 1990 can run on blends as high as E85 (85 percent ethanol, 15 percent unleaded petrol) with the help of a very small modification.

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In 2017 all local unleaded fuel was consistently blended with 20 percent ethanol (E20) for seven months. This year, with our increased production, the country should be able to blend at a rate of 20 percent for at least nine months of this year.

There are huge benefits of blending both to the consumer and to the Country.

Firstly, blending unleaded petrol (at a price of $1,35) with ethanol (at a price of $1,04) has the direct effect of reducing petrol prices at the pump.

During these hard times, I am sure everyone noticed the 6 cent increase in the price of blend at the end of last year when we stopped production – this was largely due to the decrease in the blending ratio below E20.

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... significant foreign currency savings – so last year Zimbabwe saved $56 million in forex just because of ethanol and this will only increase as blending increases.

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To date, over 1100ha of land has been developed for the community at a cost of approximately $11 million to the company.

600ha of this is farmed by outgrower farmers producing sugarcane.

The remaining 500ha consists of irrigated plots, measuring 0.5ha each and benefiting 1000 families.

The water is pumped year-round at the cost of the company, ensuring consistent availability of water in an area that receives very little rainfall and, as a result, each farmer can produce up to three cash crops per year.

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The land to which you refer has been set aside for an agricultural project for ethanol since the 1960’s and an area of approximately 35 700ha was surveyed and pegged in 1982 for this very reason.

As such, the local community never built any permanent structures within the greater Chisumbanje area and merely undertook cropping activities pending the implementation of such a project.

This land is considered Communal Land, under the control of the Chipinge Rural District Council, and is currently leased to our partners, the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA).

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Prior to the ethanol project, Chipinge district, particularly Chipinge South where the factory is located, was considered the least developed area in Zimbabwe owing to the harsh region 5 climatic conditions which are characterised by very low rainfall and high temperatures.

Currently, up to US$2 million is injected into Chipinge South every month in the form of salaries and procurement finance, which has resulted in significantly increased commercial traffic.

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With things finally moving forward in Zimbabwe, we hope that it will become easier and easier to obtain finance for our planned expansion, as well as hopefully bring in some foreign investment.

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We will continue to plant more cane to ensure that our production continues to improve and we are excited to add additional by-products to our green cycle, specifically CO2 recovery, cattle feed, methane recovery and yeast recovery.

We are eager to keep going from strength to strength as a locally owned and operated company and to be the driving force behind Zimbabwe becoming energy independent in the very near future. READ MORE

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