Malawi launches five-year, $1 million program to spur flex-fuel vehicle adoption

The government of Malawi has initiated a five-year, $1 million program to introduce flex-fuel cars in the country, to increase the demand for ethanol.

At a recent event in Blantyre, Brazilian flex-fuel vehicles were launched that can use 100 percent ethanol or any blend of ethanol or gasoline. The Malawi Department of Science, along with the Ethanol Company of Malawi (ETHCO), are promoting the vehicles to reduce Malawi’s dependence on foreign oil.

Malawi has begun increasing its biofuels-related activity.

The country has two molasses ethanol plants, an ETHCO facility in Dwangwa, and a Presscane facility in southern Malawi. The two facilities have a combined capacity of 8 Mgy, but produce half of that due to molasses supply constraints. Their products are primarily used by BP Malawi, TOTAL Malawi and Chevron Malawi for E10 blends. D1 Oils has 338,000 acres under jatropha production with plans to plant more than 80,000 acres in Swaziland, Zambia, Madagascar, Mali and Malawi.

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