This post has come up due to a recent interest in Bio-fuels and interest in clean energy as well. In line with the Millenium Development Goals, countries are beginning to invest heavily in recycled energy sources as an alternative to the more common fossil fuels. One such project is one by Pure Fuels EA, a local Kenyan company with an investment in Bio-Diesel production. This company got their concept from a University in Milan, improved on the design and set out to market. Pure Fuels EA has managed to recycle ordinary vegetable fat into bio-diesel that can be used to power any diesel engine. In an exclusive interview, the company’s CEO, Daniel Mugenga, outlined that according to a 2009 report by the Global Agricultural Information Network, Kenya consumes approximately 700 Million liters of vegetable oil per year. Think of all the fast food joint and restaurants in the country. They all use veg. fat to process their foods. Now think: Where does all this waste fat go to? Your answer: Most people throw it away. Well, not any more. Pure Fuels E.A. has come up with a stand-alone plant that has capacity to process this vegetable fat into bio-diesel. It is called the GXP 200 Processor. The set-up costs about 114,000 KES to put up or at least that is what they are selling it for. This includes a training manual as well as a video DVD disc that clearly outlines the process to manufacture your own bio-diesel. The processor plant can be moved around and just needs to be plugged in to a normal power source. It uses 75Kwh- equivalent to a flat iron use. The process is as follows: Waste vegetable fat is sucked into the machine’s tank via a pump located on its architecture. The fat is the heated up to allow proper mix with chemicals to allow the fat. The temperature is maintained within the tank and allowed to settle for 3 hours. After the mixture has been converted, glycerin, which is a by-product of the process, is drained from the bottom of the tank via a draining tap located there. Glycerin is denser that this new bio-diesel and this essentially means that it sinks to the bottom so draining it should not be too hard. This process has capacity to produce 200 liters of diesel every 8 hours. Companies currently using this bio-diesel include Mugenga Holdings, Danever Ltd, Intraline shipping and Logistics, Bemms Limited most of which are located at the Coast. All these companies blend it with normal diesel and then use it in their diesel powered engines for either transportation purposes or for use in generators. One of the main reasons this Bio-diesel is becoming increasingly popular is that it is Sulfur free; hence minimal pollution damage to the environment. Pure Fuels also produces this type of diesel and sells it for only 5 KES off the normal pump price. This shows that there is a good return on investment should one decide to venture in this business. Should an investor lack market for the processed bio-diesel, Pure Fuels EA buys back the processed material for an agreed upon price. 
The bio-diesel emits a potato smell when burnt and this is way better than what we have on the roads today. I dare say that the gas it produces smells like chips. Nice, isn’t it? Lastly, this fuel burns a bit more efficiently by altering the cetane number in the fuel. Although no-one is yet using it on a 100% capacity in an engine; many preferring to blend it with normal diesel, the staff at Pure Fuels EA look forward to a time when this is going to be the mainstream product powering Diesel engines. It is efficient to the point of doing about 10% more than normal diesel.
