Malaysian Platinum Expects to Complete Biodiesel Facility By July

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | May 22, 2008 by D-8 Secretariat

PLATINUM Energy Sdn Bhd expects to complete its 200,000-tonne-a- year biodiesel facility by July this year. The RM60 million plant is located within the company’s High Technology Biopark in Senawang, Negeri Sembilan. It is also working on commercialising a third generation biomass- to-liquid technology to produce green diesel from jatropha biomass, said its managing director Jespal Deol Abdullah.

The project includes cultivating over 200,000ha of jatropha in South Sulawesi and Banten, Indonesia.

Platinum will also collaborate with Nandan-Alphakat Pte Ltd to commercialise the biomass-to-liquid Catalytic Depolymerisation Technology (KDV technology).

“With KDV technology, the product is green diesel. It’s a direct substitute of diesel and not for blending purposes, almost no different from fossil fuel, as opposed to biodiesel (which is) blended,” Jespal said after the signing of six agreements and memorandums of understanding in Kuala Lumpur recently.

The jatropha plantation project will start in the fourth quarter of 2008. The first commercial yield is anticipated by 2010.

Platinum plans to start a pilot project for the KDV technology at its High Technology Biopark by July this year.

It will initially use biomass as its source of feedstock, specifically agriculture waste like rice husks and empty fruit bunches and shells from oil palm.

On Tuesday, India’s Nandan Biomatrix Ltd entered into a share swap deal where Nandan will end up with a 20 per cent stake in Platinum. They will also set up a joint-venture company, Nandan Platinum Sdn Bhd.

Octagon Consolidated Bhd also agreed to buy 27.4 per cent of Platinum for RM9.9 million.

Platinum Energy is an investment holding company established to develop and adopt sustainable alternative energy solutions.

Source: New Straits Times

Read Also

• Southeast Asia’s Largest Biodiesel Plant
• Malaysian Govt Approves 91 Licences for Biodiesel Production
• Malaysian Palm Oil and Jatropha Receive Investment
• The Malaysian Palm Oil Board and Orion Genomics Complete the Sequencing and Analysis of Three Oil Palm Genomes
• Malaysia, Indonesia to Mandate Use of Biodiesel Early in 2009
• Malaysian IJM Plantations plans RM600mil capex for Indonesian ops
• Malaysia’s Kuantan-based Biodiesel Firm gets ISCC Nod: Bringing Biodiesel into Analyses in Abuja Meeting, June 2009
• Malaysia, Indonesia To Use Palm Oil Surplus To Produce Biodiesel
• Malaysia doubles 2008 biodiesel export forecast
• Developing Non-Food Sources for Biofuels and Biodiesel, D-8 should Learn China’s Biofuel Development Plan