Pioneer to produce ethanol from nipa sap

Pioneer Bio Industries Corp., a Malaysian company, is building what it says is the world’s first plant to commercially produce ethanol from the nipa tree. The company is building the plant in the northern Perak state to extract ethanol from the sap of the nipa tree, which is found in abundance in Malaysia’s coastal areas, as well as in neighboring Southeast Asian countries and the Pacific islands.  The first plant, costing US$510 million, will have a capacity to process 530 million liters of ethanol a year. It is expected to be operational by the end of next year.  The Perak state government has awarded the company the rights to harvest nipa sap on 10,000 hectares, for which it will pay the state US$120 million a year. “We plan to have up to 15 ethanol plants in Perak in the next five years with a capacity of 4.68 billion liters a year, Chairman Badrul Shah said. He added that total investment in the project will amount to US$5 billion. (January 14, 2007)