 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Calculate and offset your CO2 emissions simply and efficiently! Click on one of the icons above! | ||
 |
||
From coal to biomass in Limpopo, South Africa
 |
| Project Type |
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project Name | Letaba Biomass to Energy Project | ||||
| Project Location | South Africa, region of Limpopo, Tzaneen | ||||
| Project Standard | Gold Standard VER | ||||
| Emission Reductions | 101,000 t CO2e (over 10 years) | ||||
| Situation without project | Coal firing | ||||
| Project Status | Operation | ||||
| Project Validation | DNV | ||||
| Project Start | February 2011 | ||||
| Documentations | Gold Standard Project Documentation |
A South African citrus farm and fruit juice producer switches from fossil fuel to climate-friendly biomass for steam and heat production. Thereby this project reduces greenhouse gas emissions and makes use of a so far untapped local renewable energy resource.
Prior to the project, the citrus processor in Limpopo, South Africa, consumed between 7000 to 8000 tonnes of coal per year to meet its thermal energy needs of the two main production processes: Boilers produce steam for the concentration of fruit juice and peels resulting from fruit processing are pressed and then dried in rotating drums fed with hot air. Dried peels are a valuable side product and can be used as animal feed or fertiliser. Coal needs to be transported from long distances to the plant. But there is a better and local solution for thermal energy production than fossil fuel sourced from far away. The Limpopo region is home to a large number of sawmills processing wood from local forests and thereby accumulating huge quantities of sawdust and waste wood. This biomass waste is a so far untapped resource but readily available within a radius of 50 kilometres to the citrus farm.
The project is implemented in two phases. In a first step, the furnaces that heat up the air for the peel driers were refurnished to run on sawdust. This component has been successfully completed in February 2011 and since then no more coal is used for this process. In a second step, the boilers for steam production running on coal will be replaced with biomass boilers. Once this component has been completed the project will annually use around 16’000 tonnes of sawdust complemented with minor quantities of wood chips.
Additionally to the reduction of CO2, the project creates temporary and permanent jobs. A part of the money from the carbon finance will be donated to a worker’s trust, which will support for example the education of workers and their children trough scholarships or improvement of their housing on the farm. The endowment of trust benefits must take place with observance of gender equality.
No. 7106
Print
