DFDS invests in biofuel developer MASH Energy
Summary
With its investment of up to DKK 10 million, DFDS is now co-owner of the company and co-responsible for developing a commercially viable alternative to fossil fuels. This is thanks to an investment of up to DKK 10 million in MASH Energy, a company that has developed an efficient, low-cost method of producing biofuel from a waste product, currently from the by-products of nut processing in Tanzania and India. Furthermore, the biochar is an efficient fertilizer in the fields where the additional plant growth will absorb large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere, says Jakob Andersen, CEO of MASH Energy, and lecturer at the Technical University of Denmark, DTU. Jakob Andersen CEO of MASH EnergyHe and four colleagues from DTU are the founders of the company, which since the beginning of 2015 has developed the thermochemical processes and the reactor that can produce the oil from a number of different agricultural wastes, including waste products of nut farming and processing.The reactor is constructed by the companys own employees in MASH Energys factory in India.The technology is already being used as part of an UN-supported project in Tanzania for the production of biofuel. The fuel is currently being produced from the waste products of multiple nut processing factories and has been delivered and sold to local-industry.We are extremely pleased to add a large ship operator such as DFDS to the ownership circle and that we will thus get the opportunity to test the biofuel in engines and verify that our product is indeed of the quality and price necessary for it to succeed in the shipping industry, says Jakob Andersen.The investment is made in three stages and DFDS will become a 24% shareholder of the company after the final stage.The investment is a result of our ambition to take responsibility for the development of commercially viable biofuel that is a real alternative to fossil fuels.