First BioEnergy plant in Africa close to full operation in Sierra Leone

His Excellency President Ernest Bai Koroma today conducted an informal visit to the Addax BioEnergy plant where processing of ethanol from sugar cane will commence in 10 days time. He stated, “this is a great achievement for the people of Sierra Leone.”

The innovative project, where 80% of the workers are Sierra Leoneans, is the first of its kind in Africa. The project is located approximately 15km west of the town of Makeni in the Chiefdoms of Makari Gbanti and Bombali Shebora in the Bombali District and in the Chiefdom Malal Mara in the Tonkolili District in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone.

The sugarcane estate is approximately 10,000 hectares (ha), planted in circular fields watered by pivot irrigation.

The factory and related infrastructure, fields developed for rice farming and ecological conservation areas cover another 4,300 ha, bringing the effective project area to around 14,300 ha.

Key facts

The sugar cane estate covers an area of approximately 10,000 hectares.
It will produce about 85,000m3 of ethanol per annum and approximately 100,000 MWh of renewable power per annum.
The refinery and the irrigation system for the sugarcane estates will be powered by the biomass plant, fuelled with sugarcane fibre residues.
A capacity of up to 15 MW of power will be supplied to the national grid of Sierra Leone, significantly adding to the country’s overall electric power capacity.
Construction of the distillery and power plant began in 2011 with production becoming fully operational in 2014.
At July 2013, the project employed 2,007 people and will create over 2,000 jobs when fully operational.

Source: Addax Bioenergy

See pictorial below