Malaysia hopes to claim 10 percent of the global market for biodiesel fuel through 2010 by launching two production plants that are expected to generate a combined capacity of 200,000 tons of methyl esters for biodiesel and glycerin byproduct per annum, according to a report by Industrial Info Resources (www.industrialinfo.com).
A partnership between Natural Oleo Chemicals, a subsidiary of Kulim Bhd, the Malaysian diversified palm oil group and the Singapore branch of the German company Peter CremerOleo (Hamburg, Singapore, Cincinnati), will construct two new biodiesel plants. One will be at a 20-hectare site at the Tanjung Langsat Industrial Area in Johor Bahrua, Malaysia, and the other will be in the petrochemical hub on Singapore’s Jurong Island. In January, Kulim announced that it had entered into a sale and purchase agreement with state-owned parent company, JCorp (Johor Corporation), to acquire a 50-acre industrial site for $7 million.
Output will be directed to the exports market with the European Union as the main target. The two plants are expected to generate about $133 million annually.
The Malaysian government is now drafting a national biofuel policy and has said that it would conduct trial runs using biodeisel on state-owned, diesel-powered transport vehicles from three ministries — defense, transport, and plantation. The year 2008 has been targeted for a mandatory change from diesel to biofuels.
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