Red Orbit reports that Malawi has taken up Brazil’s lead and is now planning to switch from petrol to ethanol as the main vehicle fuel. Experiments on converting cars to run on this ethanol have gone well.
Last year, I asked the Malawi government to take the issue of ethanol driven vehicles as a matter of urgency.We must adopt these vehicles as fast as we can. If we had Parliament in Malawi, this is one of the most important issues that they should have been discussing and making sure that we were making progress. Unfortunately, those guys whom we call our MPs are busy fighting the political battles of their party masters forgetting the interests of masses that gave them the mandate to be in the August House. Amangwetu nanga munthu amadya Section 65 (Does a person eat Section 65)? I do not have any political ambitions but sometimes those noisy and childish honourables give me the impetus (amandipatsa mangolomera) to start thinking of representing Rumphi Central constituents in the August House after I finish my mission at Tokyo Tech. Ooh!!!My apologies, I am deviating from the aim of the post!!!
Back to Ethanol propelled vehicles!Last year, I asked the Office of the Director of Science and Technology if, by carrying out the Ethanol propelled vehicle project, Malawi was not re-inventing the wheel in light of Brazil’s progress in this area. I also asked this office if it was possible for Malawi just to send some people to Brazil for training on Ethanol propelled vehicles and see how we can implement the same in Malawi. The response was as follows:
It is not easy to send people to Brazil for training. We allocated some funds during the last financial year (2006/07) for an officer from Lilongwe Technical College to go to Brazil, but it did not materialize, because he could not get the invitation letter for him to process the Visa. CFAO as our partner assisted a lot to get the invitations, they even send e-mail messages in Portuguese, the official language in Brazil, but it did not work! We are still exploring ways of getting around this problem.Secondly, in Brazil, they are manufacturing Flex vehicles which can use pure ethanol, pure petrol or any combination of the two fuels in a single tank. A Flex has been imported by Ethco for further experiments in Malawi. However,you can agree with me that this technology will be far above the reach of most middle Malawians. The experiments we are conducting now are targeting the Biwi-Biwi, or Ndirande-Mlanga road -Red cross type of people. We believe that this group consumes a lot of fuel and could help to reduce the petrol demand hence imports if they turned ethanol. Thank you for your enquiry and interest in the Ethanol driven vehicle project, we hope that every Malawian stand to benefit if the results are commercialized in the future.
This detailed response enabled me to understand the main objective of this project i.e. targeting the Biwi-Biwi, or Ndirande-Mlanga road -Red cross type of people because these are the people that consume a lot of fuel. It is reported that Mr Freeman Kalirani and his team at Lilongwe Technical College have converted four vehicles. Two vehicles, a Nissan and a Mitsubishi, are running 100% on ethanol and the other two vehicles that are flexi-type are running on either petrol or ethanol or any mixtures of the two.This is a good development. As I applaud the efforts of Mr Kalirani and his team, I still have a few questions. Are we sure we are the first country in the world to convert old petrol driven cars to flexi-type (ethanol+petrol driven)? I somehow think that it could be possible that some folks elsewhere have already done what we are doing in Malawi. It is important that we do a some research on this issue. Get me right on this one.I am not demeaning the work done by colleagues at Lilongwe Technical College(LTC). I am just expressing my thoughts both as a partner in development and as a scientist who is driven by the urgency of now. Although I am of the view that the cars converted by the LTC team are in perfect condition, I would like to suggest that they should tested by some independent experts i.e. the Brazilians. If these cars can get endorsed by Mitsubishi and Nissan, it will be great.
The Office of the Director of Science and Technology also said that it was not easy to send people to Brazil for training. But now the situation has changed. From one of my posts, you will notice that the Brazilian ambassador to Malawi, Mr Raul Taunay, was present at the launch of the launch of the flex-vehicle which Malawi bought from Brazil last year. This vehicle is being used in the experiments by the LTC team. I would like to advise the Malawi government to sign an agreement with Brazil focusing on ethanol driven cars.Countries such as Ecuador and India have already signed such agreements with Brazil. Why are we delaying? Malawi can easily initiate this through Mr Raul Taunay’s office. With such a high profile agreement in place, it will be easy for Malawian experts to vist Brazil and learn how our colleagues are implementing this technology. After that, it will be easy for us to implement the same back home.
Other things that the Malawi government must do include:
- Coming up with some regulations for the car conversion industry. One of the things that must be done in this area is to issue special licenses to capable service centres which will be converting old petrol driven cars to flexi-type. Many people will want their cars to be converted to flexi-type.As a result, there is a huge potential that numerous unscrupulous service centres will spring up. Special licenses will help to ensure that only capable service men are in this industry.By the way, do those guys who set up garages say in Ndirande follow any regulations? Do they have any documents?
- Reducing duty and tax on auto parts that will be used in conversion industry. This will help to ensure that the number of flexi-type vehicles in the country increases thereby cutting on the overall consumption of petrol and saving our FOREX.
- Reducing duty and tax on flexi-cars imported from Brazil. The reasons are the same as in #2.
- Finding out if we have to extend our sugar plantations in order to meet our domestic demand for Ethanol.The pros and the cons of extending our sugar plantations must be carefully evaluated.There is a need to find out the economic benefits of exporting excess Ethanol now that other countries will be shifting to flexi-type vehicles. This will help us determine the extent to which our sugar plantations can be extended.
What do you think?
I have aired out my views on the introduction of flexi-type vehicles in Malawi. Now, I open the floor for discussion. Feel free to share your views with me through the comment section. Spammy and off-topic comments will be deleted without notice. If I get some quality feedback, I will write another post on this issue.
Update (6 March 2009):
You can take a look at a follow up article in which I ask if there is any difference between the ethanol conversion kit in Malawi and the ones that are available on the market.
45 users commented in " Ethanol driven cars: What Malawi must do "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackIf Malawi can get something like this off the ground it will be marvelous. It will serve as an example to the rest of the world.
A bit further south, in South Africa, not much seems to be happening with regards to this problem.
Just a couple of months ago there was a group of farmers who wanted to start their own ethanol production process. The idea seemed to be brilliant as the agricultural sector uses a large chunk of the country’s available fuel.
This idea was splashed all over the television at the time but sadly the stories have just died down. To the little man in the street it looks as if something else is preventing ideas like this from getting off the ground. Could it possibly be that the petroleum companies do not appreciate the competition? The mind boggles.
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The issue of the Malawian not getting a VISA to Brazil is quiet hard to believe! Did they try the brazilian embassy, not belittling their effort but i am of the thought that there were some other hindraces than the VISA itself! They should also try USA and France cause that technology is being applied there as well!
This is an eco-solution merely because ethanol is a renewable resource! I hoping some protection mechanism have to be done to avoid the rise of food cost that can be aggravated by the use of this exicting technology! It may raise the cost sugarcane for example in turn sugar, u know how the circle goes…! Some protection has to be legislated to protected the food price!
Your blogging page is only my source for Malawians development and scientific news and possibilities! Thanks
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Having noted the evergrowing demand for ethanol, one of the prospective demand being the ethanol vehicles; one of the students, Titus Bwalo,at Mzuzu University has done a lab experiment on production of ethanol from maize bran(madeya).It worked of course without addition of any commercial sugar unlike the traditional methods of ethanol distallation.
The only challenge is the competitive use of maize bran like in pourtly and pig frarming.
It is also another research area where Malawi can assess the economic viability of using maize bran for ethanol production at a large scale. we usually refer maize bran as a waste but is a resource.
Furthermore,the sugarcane plantations or maize gardens are also carbon sinks for the carbon produced from the ethanol burnt rather than the brown energy which expolitation methods do not sequester any carbon.
I therefore totally agree to your directions if we are to achieve energy sufficience and reduce fears of climate change.
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I have always thought that energy issues will be a priority in Malawi but I fail to express myself. What should we do so that our views are tabled at Government level? We really need to push ahead. I support your ideas except for the political “mangolomera”, politics is a very dirty game even if it may seem otherwise.
I have another issue which is the problem with spending millions of Kwachas on fuel for electricity generation at Likoma Island instead of substituting it with a clean renewable energy source like solar thermal or wind.
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Its nice to learn that Titus Bwalo,at Mzuzu University has done a lab experiment on production of ethanol from maize bran(madeya).
The problems we have in Malawi is that such ideas are just kept in books. Let’s find a way of puting such findings into actions.
As Engineers let’s join hands to come up with a way out.
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I suppose another stakeholder to add to the already mentioned, are the petroleum marketing companies e.g. Total, etc. They feature in two aspects. Firstly, Total (my current employer) does actually blend petrol with ethanol at a ratio 9:1 and obviously has the capacity to blend any other ratio for that matter.
In the second instance, the petroleum retailers already have the existing network and distribution channels for petroleum products and could easily add ethanol to the list. So, having the knowledge and the product is one thing but making it accessible is another. In addition, and in support of the formulation of governing laws, the whole initiative requries established companies that are willing and able to compliment such efforts. After all, wouldn’t it be easy for anyone to set up a filling station selling low grade ethanol and thus hurt the consumers?
I dare add that we simply need to move fast and go flat out. Perhaps engineers in Malawi need to go the extra mile and start designing and developing vehicles (cars, boats etc) that run purely on ethanol.
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Clement Nyirenda says:
January 21st, 2009 at 9:27 pm
@WU Chimuzu: Spot on! Petroleum marketing companies will play a huge role in this work. There is a need for government to call for a meeting for all stakeholders and map the way forward. 2009, being an election year, I doubt if such a meeting will be possible.
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Interesting topic… With the price of oil skyrocketing and the possible depletion of fossil fuels(Peak Oil), Malawi is in the right direction with the ethanol-driven cars. However as some have already suggested, the ethanol production technologies should not be in conflict with the food security of Malawi. In addition the govt. should promote the use of energy efficient vehicles and other modes of transport e.g rail which are cheaper.
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How i wish Nigeria government can get involve with this.I don’t think it’s possible without the government’s involvement,they will surely fustrate whoever shows an interest simply because revenue derive from oil production may fall if there is this alternative.
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but what i read about ethanol is that it is causing many test failures in all the big car industries who are trying best to come out with this efficiency.
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I’m not a big fan of ethanol for fueling cars. There are several technologies out there to make ethanol, but probably the most used is the one that makes it from grains. If ethanol is made from garbage, I’m fine with it, but if it’s done by crops that serve as food, I think we should look somewhere else. One of the reasons for price of grains going up on the World Market, was the increased demand for ethanol.
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Ethanol engines use 25 percent more ethanol per mile than gasoline. But ethanol usually sells at somewhere between a third to half of the price of gas. Ethanol can compete with petrol even with oil prices at $35 a barrel which is half of today’s price.
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Check out the latest post on Casualblogger.net.
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Clement Nyirenda says:
January 21st, 2009 at 9:49 pm
@casualblogger: I checked your post. Producing ethanol from garbage is a great idea. I look forward to seeing other countries emulating this.
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So, has the Malawi government come up with a solution to the crisis? And i think i agree with you on the fact that the politicians are too busy filling up their pockets. No one cares about the masses.
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actually i don’t know any disadvantages of ethanol using as fuel.but i know that it is cheaper than the petrol.so i support to use it.thanks Clement Nyirenda for your very informative post.
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Hello, dropping by here.. why don’t you have any updates. I miss reading your new posts.
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If you add some water into ethanol you’ll get Vodka, am I wright? If it’s so, it means that alcoholics all over the world will start fighting against this idea…
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I like hydrogen powered car more .)
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The major problem I have with using Ethanol is that farmers are growing crops to be burned and switching from other crops to grains that can be used for Ethanol because they can make more money. This is already starting to be part of a growing food shortage. If Ethanol becomes the gas of the future we could see a huge spike in food prices until farmers can make as much money from food as they do from Ethanol. Its a dangerous rapid hole. Nuclear energy to supply electricity lines and electric powered rechargeable cars is the direction I’d like to take.
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Something is not fair in the “pollution” thing. one country can make a lot of garbage and throw it to the see – and other countries will suffer…. We should start moving to mars =)
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I don’t know much about ethanol in cars but all I know is its cheaper than petrol, so it is a great idea.
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The price of oil has dropped significantly since your blog post. I just hope that we don’t forget how dependent we are on oil and go back to the old days of gas guzzlers. There are many different ideas out there to study (plug-in electric, fuel cell, hybrid) and while they may or may not be economical, there is an answer out there.
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Heard that china developed a car run by water
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Clement Nyirenda says:
January 21st, 2009 at 9:32 pm
@Vicdee:It is Japan, not China.
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I still think these auto companies don’t know what direction they are going to. I do hear that GM has an electric car coming out in 2010 called the Chevy Volt. So I’m still unsure what will be the main resource for cars in the future.
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does anyone here knows about HHO? or hydro fuel cars? it can also help us with our fuel bills, but i wonder why car manufacturers aren’t releasing cars like this..
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I just hope the nation can produce the fuel on its own versus importing it. It takes a lot of bulk plant material I’m told to produce enough of the fuel to be a truly viable option. Now producing it from local maize bran and hiring the people to farm and refine it would also keep more money in country I figure ( gathering it , planting it , harvesting it , transporting it , refining it , storing it ect ect that is alot of jobs ! )
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The problem of fuel is really urgent! I think, that it’s very important for governments of all countries to search for ways out and to use nature friendly materials for fuel production
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I’m all for anything that will save the environment, but I also want something that *goes fast for cheap. Is it too much to ask for both?
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I don’t know much about ethanol in cars but all I know is its cheaper than petrol, so it is a very good idea
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Hi,
It seems to me that the problem is different in Malawi to countries like USA, Europe etc. Your post and some comments suggest that cheap fuel is good, and I guess it is better than expensive fuel. However, in countries like the USA and the UK, the problem is that there are just too many cars. Making them cheaper to run will in fact make the problem WORSE not better.
I guess the problem of overcrowded road may not be the issue in Africa, but as someone else has already said, you have to grow a lot of crops to create enough fuel – and where is this land coming from?
Zander
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The debate over the best alternative fuel for cars has been ongoing.
One thing that many forget is the cost car manufacturers must endure to produce a compatible fuel system as well. It would also have to quickly convert current fuel systems over to the new ones cheaply and yet remain practical for drivers.
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Ethanol fuel and other projects like this can be successful only if govt. takes a good initiative. Without that kind of an interest there is a lot of effort that would be wasted. These projects should be aggressively promoted.
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i liked the idea but here (Egypt) we have cars work with gas not petrol , but ethanol will be good if it become cheaper and safe for health ( air ) .
we product much gas and export it so it is cheaper than petrol, but gas cars still not much maybe 7% .
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It is not easy to send people to Brazil for training.
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Clement, you’ve got a very interesting blog, I must tell you! it’s the third post that I’m reading and the third one that I really want to comment 🙂
What I have to tell about ethanol, and alternative fuels, is that this is the future that we want for our planet, this is what we must strive for! reducing CO2 emissions need to be reduced, otherwise we don’t leave a clean planet to our children, but we leave a junkyard behind us…
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Buying Ethanol cars is at least what we can do to help our environment. I really hope that many people will do it in the future.
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I hope the Malawi receives some interneational support and recognition with this idea.
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Ethanol has great potential, but we should be wary of it pushing back grain production.
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Ethanol can definitely work for some countries in Africa, so long as it doesn’t do to the commodity market what corn did in the USA. I wonder what has happened with this today?
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a Brazilian company ABC Esso sell an adapter in the U.S. that lets any gasoline vehicle burn up to 100 percent ethanol.
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Ethanol engines use 25 percent more ethanol per mile than gasoline. But ethanol usually sells at somewhere between a third to half of the price of gas. Ethanol can compete with petrol even with oil prices at $35 a barrel which is half of today’s price.
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Ethanol is a nice thing to use. But for using ethanol, I think some modification in engine will be needed. Basically present time vehicles uses engine which are especially made for using petrol as a fuel. We can use ethanol in that engine but it will affect the engine at slow rate. So, if we are planning to use ethanol then we should make engines especially for using ethanol as a fuel and no additives will be required.
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I’m all for using ethanol to fuel cars. producing ethanol from garbage is a good idea. (It’s a lot cheaper too.)
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