Rainbow Nation Renewable Fuels (RNRF) out of Australia is about to become a bio-diesel producer in South Africa. The company said that it is in the final stages of applying for a license to produce 288 million liters per year at a plant it was building at Coega in the Eastern Cape. Once built, the plant would be the biggest in Africa, using one million tons of soybeans to produce 250,000 tons of soybean oil and 800,000 tons of animal feed.
RNRF plans on using a portion of the oil to produce the bio-diesel, provided it receives a license from the SA Department of Minerals and Energy. RNRF Managing Director Geoff Mordt said that the company had already secured the 48-MW of power it required to run the plant, which is expected to be commissioned in late 2009.
Soybean for feedstock will initially be imported, however, Mordt said that the plant will support local commercial and small-scale farmers to eventually grow the country’s production. He added that within five years, the company targeted sourcing nearly 100% of the soybean feedstock from South Africa.
The only fly in RNRF’s ointment at this point is the fact that it has yet to conclude the sale of a stake in the company to a black-owned company, which is required by South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) law.