Western Cape-based wine producer Namaqua Wines signed an agreement with Paarl-based distillation design and technology provider Taurus Distillation, in February, to establish a com- mercial 1.2-million-litre, 96.4% fuel ethanol pilot plant at its Spruitdrift Cellar, near Vredendal.
The customised, modular Taurus 480A continuous distillation unit will be manufactured by Paarl-based food and beverage engineering company HG Molenaar & Co with more than 90% local content.
Second-generation technology will be applied to effect the enzymatic conversion of 4 820 t of grape skin pomace cellulose into glucose, followed by conventional anaerobic alcoholic fermentation.
Insoluble holocellulose and cutin residue from the converted slurry will be converted into pellets as boiler fuel to provide the process energy for what will arguably be Africa’s first bioethanol high-compression engine fuel from cellulose biomass.
For this purpose, Namaqua Wines registered Namaqua Fuels and applied for a fuel-manufacturing licence for the latter, in accordance with the requirements of the Petroleum and Liquid Fuels Charter, thereby empowering the company’s historically disad- vantaged employees to share in the decentral-ised model of sustainable, renewable energy.
Namaqua Fuels will eventually blend the fuel ethanol with an additive to make ED95 fuel, which will fuel Scania vehicles fitted with ethanol high-compression engines.
The Namaqua Wines and Taurus cellulosic fuel ethanol project is the culmination of an in-depth study on the feasibility of the waste-based production of bioethanol to fuel public transport conducted by the Green Cape Sector Development Agency on behalf of the Swedish International Development Agency, Scania, the Western Cape government and the City of Cape Town.