USDA assists Guatemalan biodiesel plants
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Food for Progress programme has funded a biodiesel facility in Guatemala.
The Biodiesel Mazat Agui facility in the country’s coastal region of Escuintla began operations this month.
The Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University was also involved in establishing the cooperative biodiesel plant, which will use jatropha oil as its feedstock.
A second jatropha-fed biodiesel plant will open later this month in Nueva Concepcion, approximately 40 miles from Masagua. Both plants have oilseed presses and biodiesel reactors capable of producing 29,200 gallons of biodiesel a year.
‘This will be an example for other communities because the facility will be using native jatropha and not corn, soyabeans or other food products to produce biodiesel,’ Fernando Roca, president of Biodiesel Mazat Agui, says.
The facilities will initially use the biodiesel to fuel their own farm equipment, and sell to the local industry at a later stage.
The Biodiesel Mazat Agui facility in the country’s coastal region of Escuintla began operations this month.
The Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture at Texas A&M University was also involved in establishing the cooperative biodiesel plant, which will use jatropha oil as its feedstock.
A second jatropha-fed biodiesel plant will open later this month in Nueva Concepcion, approximately 40 miles from Masagua. Both plants have oilseed presses and biodiesel reactors capable of producing 29,200 gallons of biodiesel a year.
‘This will be an example for other communities because the facility will be using native jatropha and not corn, soyabeans or other food products to produce biodiesel,’ Fernando Roca, president of Biodiesel Mazat Agui, says.
The facilities will initially use the biodiesel to fuel their own farm equipment, and sell to the local industry at a later stage.
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