Biotech Updates

Malaysian Plantation Companies Ink Biomass Deal

June 26, 2013
News article: http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=85545

In Sabah, Malaysia, five major plantation companies have signed the Biomass Joint Venture (JV) cluster agreement aimed at aggregating sufficient volumes of biomass for production of solid or liquid biofuels in the form of pellets or ethanol.

The JV project envisaged from this agreement hopes to accumulate some 1.5 million tons of biomass per JV cluster to realize the objective of making Sabah the Malaysian center for second generation biofuel. The five companies involved are Teck Guan Group, Bell Group, Genting Berhad, Kelas Wira Sdn Bhd, and Golden Elate Sdn Bhd.

Agensi Inovasi Malaysia (AIM), the brain behind the JV cluster project, has identified about 70 to 120-plus palm oil mills in Sabah that generate abundant empty fruit bunches, biomass waste that can be converted into biomass pellet or bioethanol. In Asia, the demand for biomass pellets is expected to reach 10 million tons a year by 2020 as countries fulfil their renewable energy mandates.