Ethanol
Which crop suits Malawi - maize? sugar? Others?
1) Buy seeds
a. Cost per seed
b. Availability - where is market - cost to transport seeds
c. Amount of seeds required per hectare
2) Sow seeds
a. Labour demand - man hours
b. Skills/training required?
c. Equipment required?
3) Irrigate, maintain land
a. For how many seasons/years
b. Opportunity cost - labour, land
c. Cost of equipment/water/fertilizers
4) Harvest crop - primary product - seeds, secondary product (useful waste from primary product)
a. Labour demanded - man hours
b. Equipment required
c. Skills/training required?
5) Processing/separation
a. Separation of energy rich part of crop - i.e. only transport energy rich biomass
b. Equipment required?
c. Skill/training required?
d. Labour cost
6) Use of secondary product
a. Processing required
b. Yield?
c. Potential products? E.g. soap, biomass for cooking
7) Transport
a. Transport cost per kg per mile
b. Major transport routes in Malawi
c. What are major urban areas
d. Average distances from rural areas to urban areas
e. Likely to develop processing plant in major urban area - government funded
8) Processing
a. Cost of plant
b. Running costs of plant
c. Average input (volume)
d. Ethanol yield per kg of fuel
e. Energy density
9) Sale of ethanol
a. Markets for ethanol - rural, urban, international?
b. Ethanol uses? Vehicle fuel? Any others? Any further processing to use as a fuel?
c. Price per kg? (or use as comparative benchmark price per unit energy output of biodiesel or gasoline which the ethanol will replace)
10) Potential conversion of ethanol into electricity?