Haiti PR IN Biofuels Digest: Jatropha Insight
Joint venture to build 20 biocrude reactors in Haiti to supply power and fuel to energy-strapped country
In Haiti, Haytian Tractor & Equipment has signed an agreement with Sustainable Power Corporation to install 20 bio crude reactors and supply power and fuel in Les Cayes and Petit-Groave.
Haytian Tractor & Equipment Co. S.A. (“ HayTrac”), which will own 10 percent of the joint venture, said that it expects to use jatropha produced in Haiti to produce the bio crude, and expects ultimately to expand to include algae as a feedstock.
Sustainable Power has licensed the “Rivera process”, developed by US Sustainable Energy, for the production of biocrude. Amspec Senior VP Jim Ford, who serves on the board of the Americas Committee of the International Federation of Inspection Agencies, has recently joined the board of Sustainable Power.
US Sustainable Energy has been successfully testing up to 1,000 gallons per day of soybean-based bio-crude production at its Baytown, TX facility. on a production line with a 3 Mgy capacity. The fuels will be certified at an on-site facility by Amspec.
The biocrude producer is also awaiting lab results from a test of biocrude production using 20 pounds of algae as a feedstock, and is reportedly in discussions with a variety of potenial algae suppliers.
Haiti is home to Jatropha Pepinye program in Terrier Rouge, Haiti, which has aimed to encourage jatropha cultivation as a means of stabilizing incomes and reducing deforestation caused by the use of firewood and charcoal for fuel. More than 70 percent of the island has a “high” erosion risk due to deforestation.
“It has the potential, because it can be grown virtually anywhere, of creating a really positive economic impact in rural Haiti,” said Kathleen Robbins, a Haitian development promoter. Robbins said that jatropha could become a cash crop for Haitian exports, or supply electricity locally for communities which are not part of the electric grid.
“The nursery expects to begin producing high quality jatropha seedlings in time for the beginning of the rainy season in NE Haiti next spring,” said Robbins. “Also, as part of the mission of Jatropha Pepinye (JP), JP will be providing training and support to a local farmers cooperative, the Petit Planters of Terrier Rouge in conjunction with a local agronomy school along other interested farmers in the area.” The project’s jatropha nursery is located next to the UN and agriculture school.
The Jatropha Pepinye team is projecting yields of up to 12.50 metric tonnes of jatropha per hectare in wet or irrigated areas of the island, after the plants have had time to mature. First harvest yield are projected at 0.1-0.4 tonnes per hectare in dry areas and 0.75 - 2.5 metric tonnes per hectare in wet or irrigated areas.
The multi-year maturation process for jatropha seedlings is a barrier for local growers, who will likely produce vegetable crops side by side during the jatropha maturation process.
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