Multinational gas and diesel-fuelled engine-based power plant specialists Clarke Energy, a Kohler Company, has announced that it has secured the sale of two INNIO Jenbacher biogas engines to PressCane Ltd, a distillery based in Malawi. Using biogas generated from the distillery's wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), the engines are capable of generating 2.1 MW of renewable heat and power for the site’s own energy demand with the potential for power export to the local electricity network.
Using sugarcane molasses, the distillery produces ethanol which is blended with petrol and sold by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to motorists throughout Malawi. The anaerobic digestion (AD) plant sustainably treats effluent arising from the site and in parallel generates biogas which will be used as a renewable fuel for the biogas engines.
The two INNIO Jenbacher J320 gas engines – supplied by Clarke Energy as a combined heat and power (CHP) plant – are capable of delivering 1 063 kW of electricity each, bringing the total generation capacity to 2 126 kW.
We are honoured to be able to support this innovative project not only generating renewable power and heat to support resilience at a PressCane’s site in Malawi but also to support the generation of sustainable transport fuels for the country, said Alex Marshall, Group Business Development and Marketing Director, Clarke Energy.
In addition, the distillery will recover heat from the engines in the form of steam via boilers with approximately 2 MW of additional renewable heat available to support the site’s heating needs.
The utilisation of biogas generated from our wastewater treatment plant will not only produce renewable power and heat for our site’s operations, but it will also fulfil the Company’s ambitions of being the leading supplier of sustainable fuels sources to the local industry, said Bryson Mkhomaanthu, Chief Operations Officer at PressCane.
SS Techno Ltd, a leading technology company in turnkey Zero Liquid Discharge systems for industrial wastewater, served as the project consultant. After technical and commercial assessments, Clarke Energy received the recommendation.
We selected Clarke Energy and INNIO’s Jenbacher biogas engines, following a comprehensive assessment of the best partners to deliver this project in Malawi. Clarke Energy has extensive experience in supporting power production from distillery effluent in India and a local aftersales support network for the biogas engines in Malawi, said J Natesan, Head of Marketing at SS Techno.
