Over 600 Jamaicans To Gain Employment By Construction of Bio-Ethanol Plant
Over 600 Jamaicans could gain employment after a planned bio-ethanol plant is constructed.
Fuel developer, Benchmark Renewable Energy Company, says it will invest USD$95-million or just under JMD$12-billion in the construction of a large scale bio-ethanol plant on the island by next year.
JAMPRO yesterday announced that the project is expected to create 140 direct jobs and another 500 indirect jobs.
According to Nationwide, initially the plant will have a capacity of 10-million gallons of ethanol fuel per year and generate 3-megawatts of excess electricity which it will deliver to the national grid.
The plant will also produce 500,000 gallons of aviation jet fuel per year and 60,000 gallons of desalinated water each day.
The plant will be built on 300 hectares of land to grow and harvest sweet sorghum.
Sweet sorghum is a drought-tolerant feedstock with the potential to produce more ethanol per acre than corn.
Ethanol derived from Sorghum juice is cheaper to produce than corn ethanol because it doesn’t require the cooking and enzymes that corn requires for conversion to fuel grade alcohol.
Chief Financial Officer for Benchmark Renewable, Juan Briceno, stated Jamaica was chosen because of the country’s experience with large scale sugar production.
Source: Nationwide
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