Biotech Updates

Potential for Cassava in Thailand

February 20, 2009

Cassava roots are utilized for making dry chips, pellets, native starch, modified starch, MSG (monosodium glutamate), glucose, fructose, sorbitol, sago, and citric acid which are used in the food, beverage, feed, paper, textile, and plywood industries. In addition, they are used as the major raw material for the production of bioethanol, an alternative biofuel to be blended with petroleum gasoline.

Currently in Thailand, six factories are licensed to produce fuel ethanol from cassava and have an estimated total capacity of 2.120 million liters per day. The National Ethanol Committee has given permission to another nine factories to produce fuel ethanol from cassava increasing maximum capacity of 3.350 million liters of ethanol per day. This will cause an enormous demand of cassava up to 20,000 tonnes of roots per day or 7.2 million tonnes of roots per annum.

For the full article visit http://safetybio.agri.kps.ku.ac.th/images/stories/pdf/casava[1].pdf