Green Fuels wins grant for fish waste-to-power generation project in Vietnam

Photo: Green Fuels

Green Fuels Research, in partnership with the School of Chemical Engineering, Hà Nội University of Science and Technology, has been awarded grant funding by Innovate U.K., the U.K.’s innovation agency, under Energy Catalyst 8 to conduct a feasibility study into the conversion of pangasius (catfish) mortalities and processing waste into a sustainable biofuel for distributed power generation.

The project will address all three areas of the energy trilemma (affordable and available, green and clean, secure and reliable) through design of a process and facility for converting fishery waste to sustainable, low-cost, net zero carbon diesel generator fuel that can be used within existing infrastructure to provide secure energy supply to fish farms.

Although grid connectivity in Vietnam is relatively high, the country’s aquaculture sector, with farms frequently located in remote areas, is heavily reliant on fossil diesel generators.

Among the project’s expected outcomes will be assembly of a demonstration plant, development of a commercially viable business plan and value chain for future commercialization and opportunities for industry and community engagement. A further outcome will be a detailed life-cycle analysis to demonstrate clearly the overall CO2eq savings in comparison with the current state-of-the-art.

“We are genuinely excited that PoWGEN will focus on Vietnam, the world’s fourth largest aquaculture producer at 6.4 million metric tons per annum,” said Paul Hilditch, chief strategy officer for the Green Fuels group. “The sector there has grown exponentially at 20 percent annually over the past decade. Based on a 20 percent average fish mortality rate, some 400,000 tons of energy-rich pangasius waste material is potentially available every year, itself increasing at an annual rate of 20 percent. As feedstock is the life blood of any biofuels operation, we are confident that this project can have a dramatic impact on decarbonization of power generation in the region.”

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Gloucestershire, U.K., with offices in London, Mumbai, Muscat and Rio de Janeiro, biodiesel process technology and equipment manufacturer Green Fuels is in the course of a strategic transformation to global sustainable fuel producer in the pivotal sectors of sustainable aviation and marine fuels and in high-growth emerging markets for sustainable road fuel. Over the next five years, the Green Fuels group intends to establish or participate in fuel production operations in key markets worldwide, building on the company’s deep experience in renewable fuel tech, especially in decentralized refining, and on its IP in sustainable aviation and marine fuels.