Malaysia eyes jatropha oil to produce biodiesel

The Malaysian government is looking at the possibility of using jatropha oil as a raw material for the production of biodiesel in the future, Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui said. However, this is still at the research and development stage and it has not reached the commercialization stage yet, he said. The current use of palm oil and other vegetable oils as fuel has raised differing views as well as competition on their use as fuel or food sources, he said. He explained that the production of biodiesel from waste materials, including from oil palm, was still at the early stage of research and development. The initial research has shown that the production of biodiesel from waste materials was still very high and not viable yet for commercialization. On the current state of the country’s biodiesel projects, Chin said about 91% of the projects had been approved with a total production capacity of 10.2 million tons a year. However, only a total of 12 biodiesel plants have been fully completed and are in operation with a production capacity of one million tons a year. (May 14, 2008)