The southern African country of Malawi is moving forward with research into potential biofuel and ethanol projects with the use of sugar cane and the jatropha plant. The energy-challenged country is over dependent on fossil fuels and is looking to diversify its energy supply portfolio.
The Malawian government is hoping that current private sector projects will result in the construction of a chain of biodiesel facilities. To that end, several projects are already underway and Charles Kafumba from the country’s Ministry of Energy and Mines says that biodiesel production should come online as early as 2009.
In addition to private sector projects, Malawi’s Department of Science and Technology, along with the Lilongwe Technical College, have instituted a research project on the use of cane ethanol to power vehicles in place of petrol. A recent experiment was run on a used Mitsubishi Pajero. The vehicle was modified to run on 100% ethanol and subsequent testing proved the viability of the technology.