The Big Biofuels Blog

According to biopact.com James Monroe is offering modular equipment to biofuel producers in the developing world to make a range of biofuels like, bioethanol from fruit other waste products that are can be converted into sugars. These plants are suitable for decentralised production, say biopact.

In a bid to bring you the best range of new and second-hand biofuel equipment… The Big Biofuels Blog invites you to try these links to eBay.com, as a service to our loyal readers....

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A different perspective on the expansion of biofuels in South East Asia, from that of the Wall St Journal, that biofuels spell trouble in SE Asia was given by Malaysia's deputy prime minister at the opening of a conference, according to biopact.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a speech prepared for him at the International Biofuel and Alternative Energy Conference in Kuala Lumpur.

"Based on current trends, the oil palm industry is set to continue to grow to satisfy global demand. However, it is important that the expansion be sustainable."

Malaysia is projecting one million tonnes in biofuel production next year for exports, more than double the production of 400,000 tonnes this year. Speaking at the same event, Datuk Sabri Ahmad, chairman of the Malaysian Palm Oil Association (MPOA), says biofuel demand in Europe and the United States was expanding rapidly in line with the requirement for more environmentally friendly energy. Sabri says that by 2012, Europe would require 10 million tonnes of biodiesel compared to four million tonnes currently. He hopes Malaysia will become a main supplier.

There's plenty of talk about sustainability but precious little that convinces me that Malaysia has really got to grips with the potential for damaging the country's ecosystems. such as rainforrest, except to say that some of the plantations may be on land previously cleared by logging. No need to let the forest regenerate, no need to worry about organg utans, says Commodities Ministry's Parliamentary Secretary Senator Datuk Dr S. Vijayaratnam: According to biopact he said;

Vijayaratnam said there have been criticisms that Malaysian oil palm plantations were adversely affecting the habitat of the orang utan and environment, affecting Malaysia's reputation as one of the major palm oil producers to some degree, but these were not based on facts.

Tell that to the Orang Utan conservancy

Technorati Tags: biodiesel, biofuel, Malaysia, Palm oil

Filtertechnic is having a home-brew open day in Nottingham, UK on 7 June 2008. I'll be in London, but if I was in the Midlands I might pop along. 

I wrote a couple of days ago about a company called Frontier Renewable Resources, a joint venture between JM Longyear and Mascoma that is planning to convert trees in Michigan into ethanol for biofuel. There has been a follow up story in the Michigan Messenger. Patrick K. Egan at the Messenger has managed to talk to Longyear CEO, Steve Hicks about project.

Egan's written a nice feature about what the arrival of the Mascoma plant might mean for the northern Michigan Peninsula.
There are some concerns about job losses. There is mention of the cost of  generating the cellulosic ethanol jobs. There is some speculation that Frontier Renewable Resources might import timber from Canada... It is worth reading.

It is also worth noting that Hicks says that there have been a couple of timber plant closures in the past couple of years that has increased the amount of timber available by around 2m acres of forest land (about 800 000Ha).

The piece is well balanced and also touches on some of the cost of jobs generated by the grant. I guess that the fear is that these will simply be temporary jobs and that once the money has gone then the jobs will disappear too. Though in 2009 is there such a thing as a permanent job?