The Star, Thursday October 12, 2006
Promoting the use of ethanol
PETALING JAYA: The success of ethanol as an
alternative to fossil fuels in Asia will depend on feedstock
availability, processing costs and supportive government framework,
according to an academic. Professor Lixin Fu, director of
Air Pollution Research at China-based Tsinghua University said there
was a need for more concerted efforts between industry players and the
Government to ensure the “effective and efficient'' production of
ethanol.
China, Thailand and India were actively seeking to produce ethanol to
offset their dependence on crude oil and create new market for surplus
grains, he told a conference call from Hong Kong yesterday.
World demand for ethanol is expected to exceed 125 billion litres by
2020, growing at more than 6.5% from this year, mainly attributed to
government support programmes in Asia, the United States and Europe for
ethanol.
Thailand's Finance Ministry has waived the excise tax on gasohol while
its Board of Investment was encouraging investments into new ethanol
capacity with promotion and tax privileges, Fu said.
Fu said China's State Planning and Trade Commission and the State
Development and Planning Commission had also approved the promotion of
ethanol as fuel.
He said Asia had abundant agricultural and forestry wastes such as rice
straw, rice husks, waste sugar cane and tree limbs that could be used
for producing ethanol and so had potential to be a large producer of
bio-ethanol from crop residues.
Currently, corn and sugar are the major feedstock for ethanol production worldwide.
On Malaysia's potential as an ethanol producer, Clarence Woo, an
executive director from Singapore-based Asian Client Fuels Association,
said Malaysia was more focused towards biofuel production using palm
oil as feedstock.
“Prior to the implementation of ethanol projects, proper infrastructure
must be put in place through government support and concerted efforts
from industry players such as the oil and gas as well as the automotive
sectors.''
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