December 5, 2007
Source:
SciDev.Net
Biofuel holds great promise for
Africa but the research isn't yet in place to reap the rewards,
or analyse the pitfalls, reports Kimani Chege.
It is only ten o'clock in the morning and Kenyan taxi-van driver
Richard Kamiri is already tired. Throughout the morning he has
had to explain to his passengers the reason he has repeatedly
hiked the fare. In just a week, crude oil prices have risen
twice — with the people bearing the costs.
This scenario is increasingly common in energy-constrained
Africa. Over-reliance on fossil fuels has long drained national
budgets. Fuel prices are rising by the day and with little
control over internationally determined prices, governments are
seeking alternatives to meet the fuel needs of a rising urban
population.
African governments are increasingly looking to biofuel as a
viable way to do this.
Africa's 'oil fields'
According to Njeri Wamukonya, an energy expert with the UN
Environment Programme, worldwide investment in bioenergy reached
US$21 billion last year.
"Governments in developed and developing countries are putting
in place bioenergy targets, with the main drivers being the
energy security, climate change and development concerns," says
Wamukonya. The European Union, for example, has announced that
it targets its member states to generate at least ten per cent
of their energy from biofuels by 2020.
This increased demand for biofuel provides a market opportunity
for the South, with its available natural resources. For
instance, Brazil was producing 33 per cent of the world's
biofuel ethanol by the end of last year.
African countries are keen on transforming their expansive
farmlands into the next 'oil fields'.
The choices of crop are diverse — from corn to rapeseed and
jatropha. Liquid biofuels include biodiesel derived from plant
oils and bioethanol made from sugarcane, maize and other starchy
crops. Global production of biofuels consists primarily of
ethanol.
According to Cornelis van der Waal, an industry analyst with
Frost & Sullivan — a South Africa-based consultation company
providing advice on development policies — Africa has great
biofuel potential due to its vast arable land and workforce.
He says, "Africa is by no means a current participant in the
biofuels race compared to the rest of the world, but could
potentially become the most important contributor to alternative
fuels."
"The question is not so much on whether Africa is ready for a
biofuel revolution, but rather can Africa afford to miss the
biofuels opportunity?"
Lagging behind in the biofuel race
A pan-African ministerial meeting held in March this year in
Maputo, Mozambique marked a turning point. African ministers
responsible for energy development in their countries announced
a declaration committing to increased research in the
development of renewable energy — notably biofuels. This has
made many investors take a keen interest in the production of
biofuels in Africa.
However, energy analysts say that investment in Africa has
failed to take note of basic research needed. Despite
well-established national agricultural research centres across
Africa, there is little research to improve crops to yield more
ethanol and biodiesel.
Van der Waal says that many African countries investigating
biofuels, such as Kenya and Mozambique, do not currently have a
large enough capacity for biofuels research.
He adds that biofuels research in Africa is inadequately funded,
with most of it coming from governments and conducted in
universities.
According to van der Waal, African countries should follow
Brazil's lead, where both the government and the private sector
conduct research, sustaining an ethanol industry for more than
20 years. He says one of the continent's strong points is its
capacity to combine government and private research on biofuels,
something it is not yet taking advantage of.
Current biofuels research also focuses too much on increased
production efficiency rather than quality products, he says,
adding that there are opportunities for many other biofuel
products and applications besides ethanol and biodiesel. For
instance, home-use fuel, such as paraffin, wood and coal, could
be replaced by ethanol gel, made by mixing ethanol with a
thickening agent and water. The gel fuel burns without smoke,
and so does not cause respiratory problems associated with
current fuels used in the home.
Catching up
Several African countries have biofuel research projects
underway.
Nigeria, the world largest producer of cassava, is keen to use
its major crop as an alternative to fossil fuel. The country
currently uses a ten per cent blending standard of cassava
ethanol with gasoline, though this is not compulsory.
Nigeria aims to produce cassava ethanol worth over US$150
million every year, once it establishes a suitable
infrastructure. This includes construction of 15 ethanol plants
with assistance from Brazil.
And in May, the government announced plans to establish a US$100
million 'biofuel town' near the capital, Lagos. This will create
a 600 hectare settlement of 1,000 bioenergy experts — primarily
from Nigeria, but also from other African countries and Brazil —
who will work on novel technologies to improve bioenergy
production.
Nigeria also aims to start importing Brazilian ethanol-powered
vehicles by 2010.
This ambition is mirrored by Malawi. In October, the Ethanol
Company of Malawi, a private fuel company, announced that it
will import flex-fuel vehicles from Brazil to be used in a
government-backed initiative to investigate the practicability
of using ethanol-based fuels to power vehicles (see Malawi
endorses ethanol-fuelled cars).
Malawi currently uses gasoline blended with ten per cent
locally-made sugarcane ethanol. Through a public-private
venture, the Malawi department of science and technology is
implementing a research project to explore how local biofuels
could alleviate the country's energy needs. The highlight of
research so far is the testing of a Mitsubishi Pajero car
modified to run on ethanol in place of petrol for a distance of
1,000 kilometres.
The Brazilian influence is also apparent in neighbouring
Mozambique, which shares a connection with Brazil as another
former Portuguese colony. The southern African country has
developed an effective biofuel sector based on sorghum and
sugarcane, and the government has set aside over US$700 million
for biofuel research, production and promotion.
Energy experts say Mozambique has potential to be a 'biofuel
superpower'. Van der Waal says the country has sufficient
rainfall for extensive production of sugarcane, which is
currently the most efficient crop for ethanol in terms of
production cost, being much faster to process and producing more
sugar (thanks to its water content) than maize or sorghum.
Scientists from the International Crops Research Institute for
the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) are developing sorghum varieties
and hybrids that have higher amount of sugar-rich juice in their
stalks for Mozambique.
ICRISAT is also working with a private Mozambican company, Rusni
Distilleries Ltd, to establish a facility capable of producing
100,000 litres of sorghum ethanol a year. The venture has
received a total investment of around US$30 million from Rusni,
ICRISAT, and the Mozambique government, and, if successful,
could boost the livelihood of 5,000 smallholder farmers through
contract farming. ICRISAT and Rusni plan to collaborate with
Petromoc, the national petroleum company of Mozambique to market
the fuel.
Assessing the risk
Increased attention on biofuel research and development is,
however, bringing a new debate to the continent. There is the
worry that an increase in the use of food crops such as maize,
cassava and sorghum is likely to increase the food price of most
staple foods in Africa, notably corn.
"Price rise will depend on whether or not oil crops are planted
on arable land that could otherwise be used for growing food
crops, and whether water is diverted from food crops to irrigate
the biofuel plantations," says Jeremy Wakeford, a senior
lecturer in economics at the University of Cape Town in South
Africa.
The debate of crops for food versus crops for biofuels remains
one of the major problems yet to be resolved in the sector. And
it may affect Africa even if the continent does not enter the
biofuels market.
Njeri Wamukoya says increasing biofuel development is likely to
affect food aid. The United States for example, provides food
aid from its surplus crops. "[But] if the surplus is used for
[US] biofuels, will the United States supplement [food aid] with
cash, and will the cost of food go up as a result?"
Wakeford says producing food for the population should be given
priority, and suggests that new developments from research
programmes will keep the biofuel sector going.
There is a need to diversify the sources and methods used to
generate biofuel products, according to Mpoko Bokanga, director
general of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation, which
promotes technology transfer in Africa.
Addressing an African conference on biofuels in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, in August, Bokanga said one possibility is to move
from ethanol to butanol fuel production.
Butanol fuel can be manufactured from corn and molasses, has a
high energy content and can be shipped through existing fuel
pipelines. It is also safer to use than ethanol and gasoline, as
it is less likely to evaporate into the surrounding air (which
creates a fire risk). However, there has been little to no
effort to promote butanol fuel because of historically low
production yields compared to ethanol.
Bokanga also called for the establishment of 'bioenergy
scientific units' in African countries conducting biofuels
research, with experts available to advise governments on
improving production efficiency.
The triple challenge facing Africa is achieving food security,
energy security and sustainable development. Biofuels provides
an opportunity to harness Africa's vast biomass resources, but
for that more research on better yielding crops, production
methods, and use is needed. The journey has only just begun. |
|