Thursday May 18, 2006
Biodiesel from kitchen
A LOCAL entrepreneur has come up with a way to run diesel-powered cars on biodiesel made out of used cooking oil, and plans to start selling it next month.
Kom Mam Sun has run his Nissan truck for 18 months on biodiesel, an environmentally-friendly fuel.
No modifications to the vehicle were necessary, he said, and his truck has passed the Land Transport Authority emissions test without a hitch.
In fact, he says, a few small contractors – those running lorries, dumpers, generators and construction site equipment – are already using the product.
Now, Kom has built a plant at Tuas which can produce around 1,500 tonnes of biodiesel a month, and is ready to sell the fuel to customers interested in running “cleaner” vehicles.
The amount is enough to fill up more than 30,000 small lorries.
Kom’s S$600,000 (RM1.37mil) plant in Tuas will be making the fuel out of 200 tonnes of raw material – used cooking oil from restaurants which he buys from collectors.
His company Biofuel Research (www.biofuel.sg) would be the first in Singapore to mass-produce biodiesel from used cooking oil, he said.
Biodiesel is emerging as an alternative fuel for diesel-powered vehicles, which then emit less toxins or pollutants that create smog.
Global demand for this greener fuel is expected to touch 10.5 million tonnes in the next few years, as escalating oil prices fuel worldwide interest in alternative energy.
Kom says his company’s product is “cleaner” than most other forms of biodiesel.
The fuel, used extensively in the United States and Europe, is usually combined with diesel. But Biofuel Research’s product is not mixed with any mineral diesel, making it a totally sulphur-free product, and thus less polluting to the environment.
As for price, Kom said that he was buying used oil at 50-60 cents (RM1.14 to RM1.37) per litre, and planned to sell the finished product well below the current pump price for diesel, which is about S$1.30 (RM2.97) per litre. – The Straits Times / Asia News Network
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