Natural Fuels to start S'pore biodiesel in Nov

09 October 2008 05:21  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Biodiesel maker Natural Fuel  plans to start production at the world's largest plant located on Jurong Island, Singapore, by early-November given the recent fall in palm oil prices, a company source said on Thursday.

 

“We are planning to start-up two of our biodiesel lines by either late-October or early-November,” he said, adding that the company was “still working on the third line,” and that the start-up would be slightly delayed.

 

Natural Fuel has a total of three 200,000-tonne/year biodiesel lines, as well as a 60,000 tonne/year co-product glycerine refinery.

 

Although the plant was originally slated to begin production in end-2007, the company had to postpone its start up when feedstock palm oil values surged to a record high.

Since then, the company had focused its business mainly on glycerine refining, as skyrocketing palm oil values kept biodiesel production subdued throughout Asia.

 

With feedstock palm oil prices crashing to nearly a two-year low , the prospects for palm based biodiesel as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels had improved greatly, the source pointed out.

 

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By: Jeremiah Chan
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