A quarter of a century has passed since Kenya launched into one of the most ambitious energy project in its history: the production and use of a substance called gasohol that can power vehicles.
The process of creating ethanol involves the growing of sugar cane, extracting molasses from it, and using it to make a high energy combustible spirit called ethanol.
The ethanol is then mixed with petrol to produce gasohol which is then used to power petrol-engine cars. For several years, Kenya has been experimenting with a home-grown fuel product that has replaced a small percentage of its oil imports.
According to the Kenya Motor Industry Association, the rise in the use of biodiesel will come if the government makes it compulsory to use this type of energy for environmental reasons.
The grand project proved to the public that cars can run perfectly well on some hybrid fuels. However, the project stalled when the world price of molasses soared and the cost of crude oil eased and held steady.
The process of turning sugar into molasses and then ethanol also derailed the project due to energy demands.
Unless an ethanol plant is built in the middle of a sugar plantation and uses sugar cane waste (bagasse) as its own fuel, it consumes as much fuel oil as it produces, which makes it inefficient.
Kenya's biggest molasses-ethanol plant was actually deemed “energy negative” by some experts, which means it consumes more energy to produce ethanol.
However, the consequent meteoric rise in the price of crude, combined with much-heightened concern about global warming has seen a resurgence of biofuels.
Ethanol production for fuel in Kenya can be traced back to 1977 with the construction of the Kenya Chemical and Food Corp (KCFC) which was aimed at producing ethanol for blending, but this did not start until 1983.
The blend was a substitute for premium gasoline (93 octane) with a volume composition of 65 percent super petrol, 10 percent alcohol, and 25 percent ordinary or regular petrol.
This type of energy is expected to play an ever-bigger role in fuelling road transport, from now and for the foreseeable future.
In October 2020, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) certified two firms to do the conversion of tourism vans and buses into hybrid vehicles that will use electric engines.
“The standard for application of liquefied petroleum (LPG) and compressed natural gases as engine fuels for internal combustion engines is also now in force and investors are at liberty to venture into this line of business,” reads an excerpt issued by Kebs at the time.
This resulted in motorists adopting the new technology to help save on fuel costs. The conversion involves upgrading the engine to fit it with tools that help switch between petrol and LPG gas. The driver is able to switch between the two modes at the touch of a button.
Petroleum is Kenya’s major source of commercial energy and has, over the years, accounting for about 80 percent of the country’s commercial energy requirements.
The Kenyan government considers the energy sector a key enabler to achieving vision 2030 a development blueprint that aims to transform Kenya into a newly industrializing, middle-income country providing a high-quality life to all its citizens by the year 2030.
