Kenyan Based Italian Firm Ships Out First Batch Of Vegetable Oil For Refining

Eni Kenya, an Italian firm, has shipped out its first batch of vegetable oil for biorefining, raising the prospects of its production hub in Makueni.

The firm exported the cargo to its Gela bio-refinery in Sicily as it targets to produce 2,500 tonnes of bio-fuel by end of this year and 20,000 tonnes by end of next year.

Production of bio-fuel is part of the global shift to clean fuels and reduce carbon emissions that have significantly polluted the environment.

“Just three months after the start-up of the Makueni Agri-hub, we are launching the export of vegetable oil for the bio-refineries,” Claudio Descalzi, Eni’s CEO said in a statement.

The world is grappling with global warming and high prices of fossil fuels, prompting countries to seek alternatives such as bio-fuels. Bio-fuels are composed of biodegradable materials such as vegetable oils and are mixed with fuels such as diesel to cut pollution levels.

Eni Kenya is producing the oil in its Makueni pressing plant that was opened in July to process castor, croton, and cotton seeds. The company also plans to export used cooking oil from hotel chains, restaurants, and bars in Nairobi as part of environmental conservation through recycling.

Kenya is seen as a model country on the continent in the bio-fuel shift with Mr. Descalzi saying that the firm will extend the project to Congo, borrowing on lessons from the pilot scheme in Kenya.

Besides helping cut environmental pollution, the Ministry of Energy estimates that the bio-fuel sector will impact 250,000 farmers in the country’s arid and semi-arid areas, helping to create jobs. The ministry has previously said that some 25,000 farmers are now involved in the production of castor seeds across 10 counties including Makueni.

The Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited facility in Mombasa, which was shut down in 2013, will be refurbished to process used vegetable oils from low indirect land-use change crops. The facility is tipped to become a pioneer hub in biofuel production in Africa.

The shipment by Eni Kenya marks the pilot phase of Kenya’s bid to produce aviation fuel and hydrogenated vegetable oil diesel and cut reliance on pure fossil fuels.