Construction of a 90-million-litre bioethanol production facility is expected to start in the second quarter of next year.

Central Energy Fund (CEF) biofuels project manager Sibusiso Ngubane stated that this project was a joint venture between State-owned financier, the Industrial Development Corporation, the CEF and Sugar Beet South Africa.

The R1,3-billion production facility would be based in Cradock, in the Eastern Cape, Ngubane told Engineering News.

He said that the finance for the construction of the plant had been secured and that the project was progressing on schedule with construction expected to begin after April.

The Cradock-based plant would produce 90-million litres of bioethanol a year from sugar beet, which was an abundant crop in the Eastern Cape.

Ngubane elaborated that sugar beet was a good crop for the production of biofuels and the tests that had been conducted thus far had produced “exciting yields”.

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