A biodiesel refinery plant that has a capacity to produce 12,000 liters of biodiesel per day will start operation soon in Adama industrial zone.
The plant owned by a company named API is waiting approvals from the Ministry of Finance and Ethiopian Standards Agency to start production, company CEO, Marcos Bitew said.
The company that will use Jatropha tree to produce the diesel is working in collaboration with farmers who cultivate the tree to meet its demands for raw material.
API is working with farmers who are developing jatropha tree on 1.4 million hectares of land.
The company that targeted to increase its production capacity within few years has plans to build additional nine plants.
By 2025, the company will have 10 refinery plants and its production capacity reach 730 million liters per year, according to the CEO.
The refineries are expected to cost API 250 million USD.
The refineries are expected to create more than 10,000 jobs within the next 10 to 12 years, he said.
Since the company gets the tree from individual farmers who developed the tree by their own, API will use a digital payment platform to pay its suppliers.