Sunflower biodiesel to fuel Aboadze Thermal Plant

20/11/2010

Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru
A 200-acre sunflower farm has been established at Gomoa Adzentem in the Central Region to produce 4.8 million barrels of sunflower biodiesel a year to fuel the Aboadze Thermal Plant in the Western Region.
Under the auspices of the Volta River Authority (VRA) and Tropical Agricultural Marketing and Consultancy Services (TRAGRIMACS), sunflower is to be processed into biodiesel to fuel the three 110-megawatt thermal plants at Aboadze.
TRAGRIMACS has established a plant in Tema that processes sunflower seeds cultivated from the farm into biodiesel to power generators and tractors. It currently processes 1,000 metric tonnes of sunflower biodiesel a year.
The project is supported by a $12-million Swiss facility for the acquisition of biodiesel and oil processing machines and other equipment for the project.
Four chemical engineering students and a laboratory technician from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) are to assist in the work on the processing machines.
During a tour of the project site, the National Programme Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Global Environment Facility, Mr George Ortsin, said his outfit was collaborating with TRAGRIMACS on the project.
He expressed the commitment of the UNDP to support other farmers to go into sunflower cultivation.
The Chief of Gomoa Adzentem, Nana Asare Andoh I, asked the government, corporate bodies and investors to support the sunflower biodiesel project to create jobs for the youth in the area.
The Chief Executive Officer of TRAGRIMACS, Mr Issah Sulemana, said the company had secured 40,000 acres of land across the country to cultivate sunflower to feed another biodiesel processing plant to be established at Gomoa Adzentem.
He said TRAGRIMACS would engage 2,000 workers to begin work on the farm from May next year.
The biodiesel and oil processing machines which will extract oil from the sunflower seed and convert it into biodiesel will be installed in June next year.
Mr Sulemana said the request by the VRA for TRAGRIMACS to supply the biodiesel to fuel the Aboadze Thermal Plant “is a boost to a small-scale local company and a dream come true”.
He said biodiesel had advantages over fossil fuel because the former was environmentally friendly, cheap and renewable.