Bioethanol fires up cooking stoves in Africa

Novozymes, who is also working with hveiti in the development of enzymes for the use in hveiti’s protein product, has started a very interesting project in Africa. 

The goal of the project is to create an alternative for the African house wives’ large use of charcoal for burning when cooking. Charcoal is harmful for the health and also has huge environmental consequences. 

About 85 % of Mozambique's energy comes from wood and charcoal. It is a leading cause of respiratory illness, and studies have shown that primitive cooking stoves kill more people per year - about two million - than malaria. 

Besides from this, the manufacturing of charcoal means that large parts of rain forests are disappearing. 

Small scale bioethanol factory

Novozymes delivers the enzymes for the small plant, which transforms locally produced cassava into bioethanol, to be used by African house wives in specially design cooking stoves.

Mozambique has a large surplus of cassava, why it makes good sense to use some of the surplus for the production of bioethanol.

“We believe that this is a good example illustrating that we can grow, process and use in a sustainable manner,” says CEO of Novozymes, Steen Riisgaard, to the Danish newspaper Politiken.

Project embraced by the government

In the beginning of the project, Mozambique’s government was hesitant to support the sale of cassava - a basic food for many - but now embraces the project. 

"There is no contradiction between producing for food and producing for agro-industry. Our country is vast," Agriculture Minister Jose Pacheco told AFP. 

Despite its fertile soils and favourable climate, Mozambique uses less than one tenth of its arable land - the lowest land use in southern Africa. 

Farming occupies 80 % of the workforce, most cultivating just one hectare. Few farmers have access to seeds, fertilizers or modern equipment. Malnutrition is rife and the country is a net importer of staple foods. 

In this new project, everyone is a winner - the makers of the stoves and the ethanol, the family that uses the new stoves and the climate itself. 

Sources: Ringkøbing, Jeanette: Danske enzymer sætter Afrikas gryder i kog. Politiken, 30 May 2012.

Jackson, Jinty. Agence France Presse: Carbon traders eye Mozambican stoves. mmn.com, 09 June 2012.