I “meet” some very interesting people in the comment section of the stories and blogs posted to ethanolproducer.com. Sometimes something someone says interests me in some way and I contact them for more information. This time it was a comment from Alf Stevens, secretary of the Ethanol Producers Association of Southern Africa. I asked him if he would answer some questions for my blog about EPASA and the Southern Africa ethanol industry. Here’s what I found out.

Right now the majority of EPASA members are located in South Africa, a country located at the southern tip of Africa, and which has a population of 51.7 million, according to the country’s governmental website. Another two members are in Swaziland, a small country that is bordered by South Africa and Mozambique.

The group has seven ethanol producing members, six of which produce ethanol from sugarcane molasses and one that produces ethanol by gasifying coal to produce gasoline and a byproduct of that process is ethanol. There’s also one project under development that is targeting grain sorghum as a feedstock.  

In September EPASA was a conference partner in a three day Sugar and Ethanol-Africa conference held in Durban, South Africa. A total of 95 people from 15 countries attended the event, which was held for the second time.  

Half of the ethanol produced by the association’s members is used there and half is exported. Unlike ethanol producers in North America, the members of EPASA produce alcohol mostly for industrial applications, such as paint or pharmaceuticals. Six percent of the ethanol produced is liquor for drinking. The potable grades of liquor produced in South Africa are very high quality and win many international awards, he told me.  

However, the association’s first goal is to help make it more economical to produce fuel ethanol there. On Oct. 1, 2015, a mandatory fuel ethanol blending rule will go into effect in the country of South Africa. “In essence these required the petroleum industry to purchase all of the biofuel produced by licensed biofuel producers, as from a date to be advised, at a regulated price,” according to the EPASA website. Stevens added that, “the idea is for Government to create new jobs in return for the subsidy they will give. A number of criteria have to be met to qualify for the subsidy.”

Aspiring fuel ethanol producers are currently waiting for the regulatory framework to be published. Once that information is available developers can start building fuel ethanol plants. “The subsidy funds will limit the number of plants,” he said. “I suspect only two fuel ethanol plants will be built in the first trench of subsidy money.”

The association’s next goal, Stevens told me, was to expand to include members from the other 14 countries that are part of the Southern African Development Community. “We hope to attract all (or most) of the ethanol producers in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.

Thank you, Alf, for a quick view into the ethanol industry of South Africa. We at Ethanol Producer Magazine wish you and the ethanol industry there the best of luck!