New clean cooking equipment factory opened in Paarl
Clean and renewable energy solutions company Ener-G-Africa (EGA) on Thursday officially opened its new biomass stove and cookware manufacturing facility, in the Western Cape province town of Paarl. The factory will produce two different types of stoves, and two different ranges of cooking pots.
“Our factory is a stainless steel factory, using only South African manufactured stainless steel, which is world-class,” highlights EGA business development manager Dave Lello. “We have equipped it with the latest technology machines, including a fibre laser cutter, a range of presses, bending machines, and polishing machines, among others.”
The two types of stove are the Multi-Application Fuel Efficient Cookstove (Mafecs) and the Forced Air Biomass (Fab) stove. The latter comes in two formats: single and double (two stove units in one frame). The new plant will be able to produce 120 Mafecs, 80 Fabs and 70 double Fabs each day.
The Mafecs can be provided with different fuel-containing ‘inserts’, namely for wood, charcoal, gas or biomass pellets. The company is initially prioritising wood fuel, because currently the supply of pellets in South Africa is woefully inadequate, and because the Mafecs, being an enclosed system, will greatly increase the safety of cooking in informal dwellings. Ideally, wood from alien trees will be used for fuel. The Fab stoves have fans in their bases, which blow air through the base of the stove, providing them with very high energy efficiency.
The two ranges of pot produced by EGA are the SIZL pot and the eCO2pot. The sizzle pot range is composed of a 2 l capacity pan, 4 l, 6 l and 8 l pots. The eCO2pot range covers the same sizes. Daily production capacity will be 500 SIZL pots and 400 eCO2pots.
“Our SIZL pots have three layers in their bases – a stainless steel layer, and aluminium layer, and another stainless steel layer,” reports Lello. “This protects the base and prevents the food burning, yet the pots are still low cost. They can be used with gas, electricity, and induction stoves, as well as biomass, including open fires. Aluminium pots can’t be used on induction stoves.”
The eCO2pots are basically SIZL pots fitted with an integral skirt. This skirt captures the hot air created by the cooking process and causes it to rise up the side of the pot, so the pot’s side becomes part of its heating surface. This increases energy efficiency and cuts the amount of fuel needed by about 25%.
“We have a ‘tools-and-fuel’ business model,” explains Lello. EGA plans to start its own production of biomass fuel pellets, as well as seeking to stimulate greater output from other, existing producers. This is the ideal fuel, because it can be made locally from agricultural wastes, including bagasse, rice stalks, maize stalks, peanut husks, and so on, and its production creates local jobs. It is also green, being sustainable, and clean, involving very low carbon emissions in its production and distribution.
Comments
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation