Ethanol Africa are SA's first 'green fuels' company is based in the maize-producing heartland around Bothaville in the Free State. Set up by a consortium of maize farmers as a solution to grain surpluses with the aim of supplying up to 12.5% of the country's fuel needs by 2015.

Bioethanol produces 60% less emissions of carbon dioxide - a greenhouse gas - than crude oil, and five times less than oil produced from coal.

And its manufacture also has significant socioeconomic benefits. The production of biofuels, including ethanol, creates about 100 more jobs than crude-oil refining.

The government's aim is that biofuels should account for 40% of South Africa's renewable energy, to achieve the target of 10 000 GWh of renewable energy by 2013.