Africa has a huge potential to become a biofuel producer. The region has over 550 million hectares of land that can be used to produce biofuel feedstocks. Miscanthus (silvergrass), palm oil, jatropha plants, and biomass, are some of the many raw materials in Africa that can be used by refiners to produce biofuel.
The region already made history in use of biofuels in aviation in 2016, when South African Airways (SAA) and its subsidiary Mango flew the first-ever flight in Africa fuelled by biofuel made from tobacco plants. The Boeing 737-800s flew from OR Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg and over Cape Town.
Now the Boeing Company is keen to produce aviation biofuel using local resources in Africa. This year, the company announced a collaboration with South African government, South African Airways (SAA), the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and U.S. energy firm SKYNRG, to identify biofuel feedstocks in Africa.
Apart from Boeing, the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) has also signed an MoU with the Ethiopian Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Mines, Petroleum, and Natural Gas for collaboration on biofuel research and development.
Africa can unleash its biofuels sector potential - at a time when refineries around the world are looking at sustainable fuels for the aviation sector. International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) forecasts that fuel consumption for international aviation could run as high as 850 million tons by 2050, suggesting a requirement for 425 million tons of biofuel that can help achieve targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, biofuel production is limited – that represents less than 0.1 percent of the global total consumption of all types of jet fuel.
Currently, the U.S., Europe, and Brazil, produce 150 billion liters of biofuel annually.
More about biofuels production in Africa will be discussed at CMT’s 2nd Biomass Trade & BioEnergy Africa on 02-03 October, 2018 in Johannesburg.
Contact Ms. Huiyan at
huiyan@cmtsp.com.sg or call +65 6346 9113 for more information on the event.
