Cassava Ethanol Technology in Thailand

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a very promising feedstock for ethanol production. The crop provides many benefits including (1) the ease of plantation in various soil types and climate conditions; (2) a very low input and investment for planting; (3) "all year round" availability of feedstock in the form of cheap fresh roots in the harvest season and in dry chips which are readily processed from fresh roots and stored when the harvest season is over; (4) a high starch containing raw material with less impurities that is a great advantage for ethanol processing; (5) effective research and development on many aspects of cassava crops including yield-improved variety, high-productivity cultivation practice and cost effective ethanol production; (6) a competitive production cost of ethanol from cassava as compared to other feedstock; and (7) prospective uses of wastes from ethanol process of cassava as high-value added products.

These factors plus the strong expertise and long experience of Thailand's cassava industry as well as an effective national biofuel policy show the potential for the country to use cassava in industrial bioethanol.

More information available at Biosafety and Biotechnology Information Center (BBIC) Thailand at http://safetybio.agri.kps.ku.ac.th/images/stories/pdf/Australia_ethanol.pdf