SavSmart Biomass’ Solution is Set to Make a Dent in Zambia’s Fossil Fuel Consumption

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SavSmart Biomass is a renewable energy company that plans to grow energy crops in northeast Zambia to help address the country’s high fossil fuel imports and reliance on charcoal as a fuel for cooking and heating.

In a world where clean fuel is becoming increasingly important, Zambia is far from being at the forefront. The country has one refinery, which is currently closed, and imports all of its fuel. There’s also a huge part of the population that lives off the grid and uses charcoal, a product that contributes to Zambia’s worrying rates of deforestation.

Zambia has the worst deforestation rates in the world and by planting, growing, and harvesting miscanthus giganteus, SavSmart Biomass will create feedstock to generate green energy and refine biomass into green fuels like clean diesel and syngas.

The project has already spent over $1 million thanks to investment from leading members of the Zambian business sector and founding investors like Tor Anders Petterøe.

The First Steps

SavSmart Biomass’ miscanthus giganteus project begins with partnerships with universities in the US and Zambia. The company has its proprietary variety of miscanthus for which it is applying for a Zambian patent to give it exclusivity within Zambia.

The 25,000 hectares for the plantation have been acquired from Chief Katyetye of the Muchinga Province and are approved for green fuel production. As this area is sparsely populated, no local inhabitants will be displaced by the plantation.

The local environment and subtropical climate mean that miscanthus can be grown without mechanical integration and is near the highway connecting Zambia and Tanzania.

Why Miscanthus Giganteus?

While it can be quite costly to establish miscanthus, the plant is perennial and very low-maintenance. It doesn’t take much herbicide or fertiliser to get it going and can be harvested yearly after the second year. Miscanthus giganteus also lasts for over 25 years so is very cheap to maintain.

Helping Local Population

In addition to the permanent jobs created in the nursery and the 300 daily contractors that will be working in the nursery complex, there’ll also be an out-grower scheme.

Zambian smallholder farmers will be paid for the delivery of elephant grass as extra biomass to support the project. This will help local farmers to generate extra income, discourage the annual burning of the grass, and shift the focus away from charcoal production, which is another source of income for the farmers that also encouraged deforestation.

Producing Green Fuel

In collaboration with Technotherm, SavSmart Biomass will be constructing a biomass refinery to produce syngas and clean diesel.

By heating biomass in low-oxygen environments, you can create liquid and gaseous fuels. Unlike burning materials in oxygen-rich environments, this doesn’t produce harmful emissions like ash or smoke.

The green diesel that these processes can produce is also chemically identical to traditional diesel. This means that it can be mixed with regular diesel, essentially making it greener and helping Zambia to get closer to the Paris Accord targets that it’s currently struggling to meet.

It’s currently early days, but there are a lot of positives to come from SavSmart Biomass’ work in Zambia.