Malaysia Building First Biodiesel Refinery

Malaysia Building First Biodiesel Refinery
24 April 2005

Bernama. The Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) and Golden Hope Plantations are partnering to build a biodiesel plant in Labu in Negeri Sembilan—the first in the country.

MPOB is investing RM 40 million ($10.5 million) in the plant, according to Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui.

Expected to be completed in three years, the plant will produce 5,000 tonnes (approximately 36.5 thousand barrels or 1.15 million gallons) of biodiesel a month.

The biodiesel is slated for export to Europe. Port Dickson, also in the state of Negeri Sembilan, is a major oil terminal and site of the largest refinery in the country (Shell Port Dickson).

Chin said the fuel could not be used in Malaysia as the existing infrastructure of the major oil companies in the country to blend the biodiesel with petroleum diesel was insufficient.

The companies would have to work together with MPOB and Golden Hope Plantations to develop the infrastructure, he said, adding that there weren't any legal provisions for the alternative fuel in the country at the moment.

“That is why we have to export. In terms of marketing, we do not see any problems,” he said

Asked why the government started this project, Chin replied that it was to put Malaysia on the world map in coming out with alternative fuels.

(See earlier post on the development by a Malaysian company of a new clonal oil palm designed to increase oil yield by 20%.)