REMOTE ISLAND IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA PRODUCES BIO- DIESEL FUEL

A company based on a Remote Island off the Madang coast of Papua New Guinea has started producing Bio-Diesel fuel using coconuts growing on a Plantation on the Island. 




PNG Biofuels has invested into a pilot program to use the humble coconut to produce environmentally friendly bio-diesel fuel. 

It comes after copra prices plummeted forcing large plantations on the Island to trim their operation.

 
The concept of producing Bio-diesel fuel from coconut oil is something of the imagination, yet on the small Island of the Madang Province; a Company operating on a plantation on Karkar Island has succeeded in making its own fuel.

Local employee working the coconut machine


“World copra prices dropped, so for the last two years we tried to lift the value of copra” says Bret Middleton who belongs to an Agricultural family connected to the Island for almost 100 years.


The Middleton’s Kululili Plantation on Karkar Island is supplying Coconuts’ growing on hectares of land to develop an environmentally friendly fuel alternative. 


“It is hundred percent bio-diesel, it can be used purely as fuel, you can also mix it with normal diesel (fossil fuel).

“Its better then diesel because it doesn’t emit dirty smoke, its environmentally safe,” says Middleton.


PNG Bio-Fuels General Manager, Kevin Bolton and a small group of locally employed staff are producing the country’s first workable Bio-diesel fuel from the humble coconut. 


Coconut Oil extract

“We are not making a form of bio-fuel which is made from mixing coconut oil and normal diesel, but bio-diesel fuel from a process called transesterification 
that changes the molecular structure of coconut oil,” he said.

The alcohol reacts with the fatty acids to form the mono-alkyl ester (biodiesel) and crude glycerol. The reaction between the biolipid (fat or oil) and the alcohol is a reversible reaction so excess alcohol must be added to ensure complete conversion. 


The first known usage of this kind of fuel in Papua New Guinea was in Bougainville during the crisis, however, the oil wasn’t refrained to remove access water and salts containing fatty acids in the coconut oil, causing rusting in the engines. 
 


This product is powering generators for lights, plantation machinery and trucks on Karkar.

Bio-diesel

The Bio-diesel fuel is being used on all machinery that has diesel engines.


If the project becomes successful and help is given were needed the technology can be used to create an alternative fuel to compliment fossil fuel and make use of coconut lying idle since the copra prices dropped. 


Papua New Guinea’s rural areas that have hectares’ of land containing coconuts trees, grown during better days of high copra prices.

The prospect of the technology will be beneficial to over  60,000 people who will sell their copra to the larger planation and also be employed in the company.

Other rural area's in Papua New Guinea will also benefit in time, as the company expands from its humble beginnings on Karkar Island.

 View on EMTV News link

 From Coconuts to Biodiesel Fuel  

A PLACE BUILT OF UNITY…

Aseki Market, Menyamaya, Morobe Province

Rusted Bed in Aseki on which women give birth

The thing that I learnt from my travel to Menyamya is… “The power of unity saves a community from ruins”.

In a small community like the stations, you would need to believe in each other and lean on each other’s shoulder.

Many will say that this isn’t new for a small community. But what’s unique about Menyamya is, its people have been maintaining a standard of living through struggles.

They had been struggling with poor roads for over ten years until quite recently.   

The people have been survivors through out their existence; they had once survived droughts and feminine.  

They were once fierce warriors’ and very generous people. To this date they still are both generous and critical. Peace is their virtue.

They have lived in their ragged and beautiful terrain for many years… It’s the type of place to wake up to in the morning with a cup of coffee and then read a good book all day.

The station itself used to be a well-organized government station in Morobe Province.

It was where most graduates out from Public Administration School aimed to work.  A lot has changed since than and the station is in vast contrast to before.

“Back than it had the flamboyance and appeal,” says Sam William (Not his real name) who is now around 30 years old and spent his young life in Menyamya.

“A few things have happened for Menyamya and some things have not happened for it- I know because I have seen it with my own eyes”.

The things that haven’t been happening are the Menyamya Health Center at the station and the Health Center in Aseki.

I went to visit the Menyamya health Center on a Monday and what I saw was a concern to me. It wasn’t open- maybe there was no patient, but when I asked the locals, they say it hardly opened.

They said that patients chose not to come to the center because the Officer in Charges wife collapsed and died inside one of the wards.

I guess Papua New Guinean superstition plays a big role… we shouldn’t go to the hospital for treatment because there are spirits.

But the sad thing is… while some are superstitious and don’t want to come go for treatment others still do.

Often there is no Health Worker at work to attend to their illness.

The ward councilor Susan Mai has raised concerns about the center having its own specialist doctor and more staff because it the on center that services four parts of Menyamya.

“ We have to have a doctor here because we go looking for treatment in Lae and many have died at the outpatient, so we have to bring them back and bury them,” she said.

In Aseki several kilometers from Menyamya station, the story there is even worse. The health center really showed signs of neglect.

Beds were just rusted metal. A bed on which women give birth to their baby is so rusted the Health workers had to support it with rocks and repair it themselves.

They say that women actually fall off the beds when in the process of giving birth. The bed had been there since the hospital was built in the colonial era.

The Menyamya MP Benjamin Philip admitted that he hadn’t put enough money aside to fix the Health Center because he had made roads the priority.

But he has made it known to the people that districts funds will be allocated to fix the poor health care facilities in Menyamya.

The fixed 24-kilometer stretch of the worst roads will help.

Menyamya like many other rural stations must be maintained to a level that it should be. For better service delivery for tens of thousands of people in the area.

THE TOP TOWN BOY…

Please read this... it’s a true story, it happened in Lae-top town.

PROLOGUE

Some one very close to me once said… We are all leaders in work and family, make decisions based on what makes you happy, but always remember the consequence to people with you.

If a decision affects the ones around you in a negative way then you need to clearly adjust yourself and think about what needs to be done.

People that are directly involve in your life, especially your children need to be considered… parents and family including friends comes last.

 Desires and interests including personal gain and pressure from friends and family to make radical decisions will leave people directly around you to suffer.

BASED ON A TRUE STORY…

I was walking home, one evening after work, it was raining, while I covered in an umbrella and waited for my boss to buy flex from a tucker shop.

A small boy, not more than 10 years old walked up to me, he was very gentle but also understanding, he looked hesitant, but he was brave.

" Can you please give me one kina? I am hungry and I want to buy a biscuit, please just one kina only, nothing else," he said.

The boy wasn't looking for sympathy. He had already understood and accepted his plight. Because when I asked him about his mother...

 "She has gone to the village". He said this with a straight face... he wasn't lying to me.

Then I asked him where his father was...

"His married to a new woman and I can't live with him anymore, so I am out here."

My heart tore right up the center. Not because he wanted me to feel sorry for him... but in his eyes, he had already accepted that this is his life now.

I knew from that second that this boy, not more then ten years old had lived three times his life time.

He had gone through a life changing experience and it wasn't his fault but he accepted it.

I gave him my coke and my boss gave him ten kina... I didn't have cash in my wallet at that time. Other times I did but at that time I didn't.

After I walked away... his face was still glued in my mind and sometimes my face is where his face should be...

The next day I had 100 bucks for him in my wallet, I went out looking for him but he wasn't there.

I didn't take his picture.