Global Energy to produce 40,000 tons of bio-fuel annually in Ethiopia

 

By Andualem Sisay

Date: Nov 4, 2007

Source: Capital Ethiopia

Global Energy Pacific, a Nevada, United States based international company run by Israeli experts, has launched a bio-diesel factory in southern Ethiopia on Friday, November 2, 2007.
When the company’s project that has four components begins production, it will have the capacity of producing 250 tons of fuel each day from caster beans and jantropha, which easily grow in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR) of Ethiopia.
“By March our project will create additional income for 10,000 families in the region without causing displacement,” says Mr. Yanai Man, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Global Energy Pacific Ltd and Global Energy Ethiopia.
The first component of the project, the processing factory, is implemented on 15 hectares. Global Energy will also establish a modern farm on 30,000 hectares of state land as its second component. The company will also buy seeds from farmers and introduce community farming as its third and fourth components.
Global Energy Ethiopia Ltd was registered few months ago with an investment capital of 222 mln birr (around 23 mln USD) to be engaged in farming and processing oil seeds and extraction of bio-diesel.
According to Mr. Yanai Man, the company is currently dealing with the Development Bank of Ethiopia for financing its expansion project in Ethiopia. The launching of Global Energy’s project in Ethiopia has followed its receiving of 1.5 mln USD pursuant to up to 4 mln USD financing from YA Global Investments.
Following this financing, this week on October 29, 2007, Asi Shalgi, CEO of Global Energy Inc, said: “YA Global’s team performed an extensive due diligence study of the KDV technology, provided with a report endorsing the KDV technology. This report coupled with YA Global’s investment in Global Energy Inc of funding and intellectual prowess, certainly reinforce my commitment to bring the Company to its fullest potential.”
Global Energy’s mission is to commercialize innovative technologies which produce energy from waste and renewable sources, while contributing to a vision of a cleaner environment. Global Energy intends to use the most efficient and environmentally friendly of all currently available alternative fuel technologies, each originally developed and patented by acclaimed scientists.
In 5 years, Global Energy intends to develop, build and operate 20 energy processing plants, capable of producing 10,000 liters of mineral diesel oil per hour each, all based on the environmentally friendly KDV technology.
Global Energy intends on developing energy processing plants utilizing a proprietary technology called KDV, developed by Alpha Kat and its owner Dr Christian Koch. This technology can convert different types of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) into mineral diesel oil.
The process is applicable to biomass waste and any waste containing hydrocarbons. The KDV process can be readily applied to MSW including plastic, rubber, paper and cardboard waste all of which can be converted to mineral diesel.
In addition, the technology can be applied to refinery residuals - such as Petcock, Tar and paraffin which cannot be used today and the disposal of which harms the environment and is very expensive to neutralize.
It also applies to used oil from engines, organic wastes, sewerage sludge and animal manures and all types of waste Biomass, including such items as the body plant of the corn when extracting oil from the seeds, sunflowers and any other crop where significant amounts of Biomass remain in the field after harvesting the food parts. Furthermore, glycerin-bio-diesel plants produce glycerin, 30% of which can be converted to saleable mineral diesel.
The company is negotiating with various companies in Europe to supply them the 40,000 tons of bio-diesel it will produce annually. With the long term objective of liberating the world from crude oil dependency, the European Union plans all member states’ transport fuels to use ten per cent of bio-fuels by 2020.
Contrary to the EU plan, on Friday November 2, 2007, Oxfam warned that the plan could be disastrous for poor people.
According to Oxfam, in order to meet the substantial increase in demand, the EU will have to import bio-fuels made from crops like sugar cane and palm oil from developing countries.
“But the rush by big companies and governments in countries such as Indonesia, Colombia, Brazil, Tanzania and Malaysia to win a slice of the ‘EU bio-fuel pie’ threatens to force poor people from their land, destroy their livelihoods, lead to the exploitation of workers and hurt the availability and affordability of food.”
“In the scramble to supply the EU and the rest of the world with bio-fuels, poor people are getting trampled. The EU proposals as they stand will exacerbate the problem. It is unacceptable that poor people in developing countries should bear the cost of questionable attempts to cut emissions in Europe,” said Robert Bailey of Oxfam.
“Decisions on bio-fuels made in Europe are directly affecting millions of people in Indonesia. In the relentless pursuit of bio-fuel gold, big powerful palm oil companies are callously clearing communities from land they have farmed for generations, workers and small holders are shamefully exploited and we are losing valuable agricultural land to grow the food we need to feed ourselves and make a living. The proposed EU policy will only make this worse – pushing more people into poverty and concentrating land in the hands of a few.”