biodiesel comes to southeast asia
Post on 05-Jul-2016
226 views
TRANSCRIPT
General NEWS
www.re-focus.net January/February 2006 reFOCUS 9
Biodiesel comes to Southeast Asia
Singapore, Southeast Asia's
most urbanised country, could
be the site of the region's first
biodiesel plants. Three compa-
nies involved in the international
agricultural trade have
announced plans to build two
plants on the petrochemical hub
of Jurong Island worth at least
S$84 million. (US$1=S$1.7). A
joint venture between
Singapore's Wilmar Holdings
and US agricultural giant Archer
Daniels Midland Company
(ADM) will invest S$50 million in
a 150,000 tonnes/year plant
scheduled to come onstream by
December 2006. It could be
expanded to 300,000
tonnes/year. Germany's Peter
Cremer GmbH said its first
phase 200,000 tonnes/year
plant - costing US$20 million - is
due to start up in early 2007.
Both plants will largely use palm
oil imported from the region
which produces more than 80%
of the world's palm oil.
Biodiesel production could help
open up an oleochemicals clus-
ter on Jurong Island, which cur-
rently is dominated by oil, petro-
chemicals and chemicals compa-
nies. Both companies, which ini-
tially will export the bulk of their
plants' output to the West,
expressed the hope that
Singapore would encourage
greater biodiesel consumption.
They added they were interest-
ed to build a chain of biodiesel
plants in other Asian countries.
Amid growing concerns with
energy security, India's leading oil
and gas companies are laying the
groundwork to become biofuels
producers and suppliers in the
coming years. The Petroleum
Ministry, which is driving the pro-
gramme, has set an ambitious
target for biodiesel and biofuels
to eventually meet 20% of
India's diesel demand.
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation
(ONGC), Hindustan Petroleum
Corporation (HPC), Bharat
Petroleum Corporation (BPC),
Indian Oil Corp and Reliance are
at various stages of setting up
contract farming deals and biofu-
els production and distribution
facilities throughout the country.
The oil companies are concluding
deals with plantation groups to
grow the oil-rich jatropha crop in
the states of Tamil Nadu,
Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana,
Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Jatropha is a hardy crop that can
grow in arid regions. The oil
extracted from its seed can be
mixed with conventional diesel
for use in internal combustion
engines. State ONGC, which
accounts for 80% of India's oil
and gas production, said it
expects to develop biofuels and
wind power within two years to
complement its fossil fuels port-
folio. Chairman Subir Raha said
the company plans to include
biofuels production units at its
proposed petroleum oil refineries
in the states of Andhra Pradesh
and Rajasthan. He said Andhra
Pradesh has promised support for
a biofuels plant while discussion
will soon begin with the
Rajasthan state government. The
Andhra Pradesh government
plans to convert most of its
15,000 state-owned vehicles to
use biodiesel by February. It is the
first Indian state to cultivate jat-
ropha, pongamia and neem on a
large scale for biodiesel produc-
tion. In Rajasthan, ONGC has
received official approval for
building a 7.5-million tonne/year
refinery at Barmer district
through a joint venture between
its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery
Oil companies preparing to enter biofuels businessand Petrochemicals Limited
(MRPL) and UK's Cairn Energy.
ONGC plans to build an export-
oriented refinery at Kakinada in
Andhra Pradesh. The 55 billion
rupees plant will have a capacity
of 5.5 million tonnes to 7.5 mil-
lion tonnes a year. (US$1=45
rupees). Mr Raha said the biofu-
els units will be integrated into
the refineries from the design
stage. The Andhra Pradesh gov-
ernment has agreed to help
source jatropha and sweet
sorghum as feedstock for ethanol
production, he said. The compa-
ny has also submitted a proposal
to the Rajasthan state govern-
ment to cultivate jatropha as a
feedstock for biofuels.