6. Is palm biodiesel a sustainable energy?
Generally, sustainable energy is about using energy wisely, and using
energy produced by clean technologies or from renewable sources and
causes no long-term damage to the environment. Palm biodiesel produced
in Malaysia is from palm oil, which is produced in a sustainable manner
and their use conserve our crude petroleum reserve and contributes to
our own economy. Malaysian palm biodiesel is therefore a sustainable
energy.
7. Palm oil: for food or for fuel?
The main proportion of palm oil will still be used for food. Malaysia
together with Indonesia has agreed to gazette a total of 6 million
tonnes of palm oil to be used as biofuel. Malaysia and Indonesia being
the two largest palm oil producers in the world produced a total of 36
million tonnes of palm oil in 2007. In 2011, the combined production of
Palm Oil for Malaysia and Indonesia was 42.81 million tons out of 50.32
million tons of the Global Production.
8. Can palm oil compete with other vegetable oils as feed-stock for biofuel and biodiesel?
One of the important criteria for any vegetable oils to be used as
biofuel is availability at competitive price. Palm oil meets this
criterion perfectly. It is already common knowledge within the world of
oils and fats that the development of the oil palm industry in Malaysia
has been remarkable. Malaysia takes pride of the fact that within a
relatively short period of time, we have become the world’s second
largest producer and exporter of palm oil products in the international
oils and fats market. Furthermore, the advantage which palm oil holds
over other oils and fats lies in its productivity, yield and efficiency
factors. Oil palm is the most productive oil bearing plant species
known. The yield of palm oil per unit area is 5 to 10 times higher than
rapeseed and soybean oil, respectively. Considering the comparative
yields of various oil bearing crops, oil palm is clearly the most
efficiently produced oil in the world today. When the world is looking
at vegetable oils as renewable fuel, palm oil will undoubtedly stand out
among other vegetable oils. This yield factor alone is adequate for the
world to decide which vegetable oil should be produced to meet the
expanding requirement for Greener and Cleaner Energy’ for its growing
population.
9. What is the latest development of MPOB biodiesel production technology?
The technology has been licensed to two companies who will build and
sell biodiesel plants based on MPOB technology. In 2008, these licensees
have sold a total of 10 plants within and outside Malaysia.
10. What are the other potential applications of palm
biodiesel in addition to being used as diesel substitute for
transportation?
Palm biodiesel has many other applications besides being used as
diesel substitute for transportation. It can be used as heating fuel in
domestic and commercial boilers. Biodiesel exhibits better solvency
power and thus is a better solvent than petroleum-based solvent. Palm
biodiesel can also be used as feedstock for oleochemical industry such
as α-sulphonated methyl esters for the production of liquid detergent.
11. Is Palm biodiesel economically viable?
Generally, it is not economically viable to use palm biodiesel in
Malaysia as our petroleum diesel is relatively cheap. This is mainly due
to the subsidy for petroleum diesel for transport given by our Malaysia
Government. It is very feasible for overseas markets where the
petroleum diesel is very expensive and price for biodiesel is high. This
makes palm biodiesel very competitive as palm oil is cheaper than other
vegetable oils.
12. Do you have palm biodiesel with low pour point to be used in temperate countries?
Palm biodiesel with low pour point (winter grade) that is suitable as
diesel substitute in temperate countries has been successfully produced
by MPOB. The normal palm biodiesel with pour point of + 15°C can only
be used in tropical countries while the winter grade palm biodiesel
(-21°C to 0°C) can be used in temperate countries to meet the seasonal
pour point requirements (summer grade, 0°C; spring and autumn grades,
-10°C; and winter grade, -20°C).
