Thai PTT to Almost Double Biodiesel Production to About 100M Gallons US per Year

7 August 2006

Thailand’s PTT Public Company Ltd is working on two joint projects for the production of biodiesel. One is with Southern Palm Company for 300,000 liters/day (about 79,000 gallons US per day) and the other is with Bio Energy Plus Co. for 200,000 liters/day (about 54,000 gallons US per day). Palm will be used as the main feed stock.

The agreements will raise PTT’s existing 600,000 liters/day (159,000 gallons US per day) biodiesel production capacity of biodiesel to about 1.1 million liters/day (about 290,000 gallons US per day, or about 100 million gallons per year).

The projects, according to the Thai Energy Ministry, will attract more investment from interested private investors. In addition, it will also help create price stability of domestic palm and palm oil in the short term, and attract more farmers to grow palm. The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has set the planting target at 4 million rais (2,500 square miles—about half the size of the state of Connecticut) by 2009.

Current total production capacity for bio-diesel made from used vegetable cooking oil, stearin, and crude palm oil is at 350,000 liters/day (92,470 gallons US per day or 33.8 million gallons US annually). Between PTT Public Company Limited (PTT) and Bangchak Petroleum Public Company Limited (BCP) there are 35 stations that sell biodiesel currently with a combined sales volume of 113,000 liters/day (about 30,000 gallons US).

PTT and BCP plan to expand their biodiesel service stations to reach 200 stations within the year.

The Energy Ministry also expects to promote biodiesel production and usage in 70 communities by the end of this year at a production capacity between 7,000 to 21,000 liters per day. Under the support program, the government will urge the local people to produce biodiesel by using local raw material such as used cooking oil, palm oil and jatropha. This biofuel will replace up to 2 million liters (528,000 gallons US) per year of petroleum diesel used in the agricultural sector.