Tongaat Hulett touts sugarcane ethanol for South Africa

In South Africa, agriculture and property group, Tongaat Hulett, announced that electricity generation and ethanol production from sugarcane could help South Africa save and create thousands of local jobs, mainly in rural areas.

The Company calculated that the introduction of electricity as a core product from sugarcane has the potential to protect 20,000 direct jobs currently at risk and to create 23,000 new jobs if cane production returns to full production. Tongaat Hulett’s CEO, Peter Staude, stated the South African sugar industry has the potential to generate between 700 MW and 900 MW of electricity for eight months during the year, including over the peak winter season.

The Company said that South Africa, which is in the process of setting up mandatory blending regulation, would require 400,000 t of sugar to produce sufficient ethanol for an E2 blend, while converting a maximum of one million tons of sugar would produce sufficient ethanol for an E5 blend.