by Andrew Russell (Daily Maverick) … All these moves show that the transition to sustainable aviation fuels is accelerating quickly. As the sector takes off, the only question is whether South Africa will ride the trend on the way up.
The South African sugar industry, like the global aviation sector, was still recovering from years of crisis due to falling world sugar prices, drought, cheap sugar imports and the sugar tax when the industry was dealt yet another blow in July. More than 500,000 tonnes of cane was torched during the riots and looting in KwaZulu-Natal. Together, these challenges threaten not only the industry’s sustainability, but also the one million livelihoods that depend on it. The industry needs good news, and biofuels may fit the bill.
In May, the South African Canegrowers’ Association and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB) released the findings of a joint study on the viability of using South African sugarcane to manufacture sustainable aviation fuels.
The Sugarcane Value Chain Masterplan, signed in November 2020, is designed to address the challenges facing the industry, and to implement forward-looking strategies to ensure the long-term viability of the industry. The diversification of the industry is a priority.
Diversification has two components. On one hand, canegrowers can diversify into other crops like cotton, nuts or bananas. They can also continue to grow cane, but diversify by directing it to uses other than sugar production. One of these options is the production of sustainable aviation fuels.
The research with RSB showed that, by diverting 50% of the 19 million tonnes of cane produced by growers each year towards ethanol production, the industry could produce about 700 million litres of low-carbon ethanol every year. This ethanol could be converted into more than 433 million litres of sustainable aviation fuel.
With a little investment, South Africa could become an ethanol exporter for conversion abroad. Or, with more investment into this project, the country could use its own local refineries adapted to produce jet fuel. This would not only give South Africa’s canegrowers an alternative revenue stream, shielding them from the most damaging effects of volatile world sugar prices, but it would also create new opportunities for young South Africans in a growing global industry.
…
The steps we need to take are set out in the South African Canegrowers’ Association study with RSB. These include creating an enabling regulatory framework, implementing preferential procurement processes and labour laws to promote local labour, and incentivising private sector initiatives much like the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill in the US seeks to do.
Encouragingly, on 27 July 2021, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy held virtual public consultations on the Draft Amendment Regulations Regarding Mandatory Blending of Biofuels With Petrol and Diesel. The South African Canegrowers’ Association made submissions on the regulations and participated in the consultations. We hope this process will be a foundational step towards South Africa’s expansion into an industry of the future.
If the past years have taught the sugar industry anything, it is the urgency of exploring all our diversification options in good times, so we are not battered so badly by future shocks to the industry. READ MORE