Kenya is being positioned to become one of the countries that will produce biojet fuel following the operationalisation of a Ksh16 billion plant, in Kwale County.
In a statement, Investment Principal Secretary Abubakar Hassan Abubakar stated that the petroleum product will be produced through the refinement of castor oil, which is extracted from castor seeds.
The government, with the help of Enrico Tavolini - the Italian investor behind the Kwale plant - had already begun facilitating the plantation of castor with a seedling farm covering 200 hectares in Naivasha.
Hassan revealed that the seedlings will be distributed to farmers across 15 counties through an empowerment programme.
Castor plants take between two to three months to mature and thrive in arid and semi-arid areas. Once harvested, the seeds will be ferried to the Kwale plant for processing.
"Led by Enrico Tavolini, we have facilitated castor growing, extraction, and processing investment worth over $100 Million (Ksh16 billion) from Eni, Italy, the second largest biofuels producer in Europe to stimulate the socio-economic development of arid and semi-arid areas.
"The castor seeds will be processed to produce non-edible vegetable oil which will be refined to produce biofuel for jets to reduce carbon emissions," read the statement in part.
On the other hand, he asserted that the investment would put Kenya on the global map adding that the Ksh16 billion plant had also created job opportunities for the youth.
"I am happy to note that the 55,000-tonne plant which employed over 450 youth during construction is now operational and employing 2,022 staff.
"The plant will be extracting and processing castor oil that would have been aggregated from almost 80,000 recruited farmers," he added.
On its part, Eni the processing company, stated that biofuel had already been tested across the globe with Kenya experiencing its benefits in 2023.
"In 2023, Kenya’s national airline became the first in the world to use sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced by Enilive on its Nairobi-Amsterdam route," the company stated.
