Energy Discussion

THAILAND:  Thailand is looking into setting up a national biofuel organisation comprising representation from the government, the private and public sectors to regulate and promote the use of biodiesel and ethanol, according to a report by The Nation newspaper.

The public organisation is rooted as a body that will provide a unified approach in overseeing the operations of the entire biofuel value chain from the planting and allocation of raw materials for food and energy use to production and consumption of alternative fuels.  The organisation will be funded by taxes on palm oil ranging between THB 50 million baht and THB 100 million baht (US$1.59 million and US$3.18 million).

The Thai Energy Ministry is now in talks with the Commerce and Agriculture ministries, education institutions, farmers, the automobile association and oil retailers about the organisation’s structure.  The proposed structure comprises a management committee and a policy committee.  The policy committee is expected to be run by 21 members, including nine from the local government, six from the private sector and another six representing the public sector.

Illustrating the effectiveness of GE Energy’s Jenbacher biogas engine technology, Natural Palm Oil Ltd. in southern Thailand has installed a third Jenbacher unit at its mills to utilize biogas created from the anaerobic digestion of palm oil waste material.

The project ties in with the country’s efforts to increase renewable energy production to 8% of the nation’s total electricity supply, up from the current 1%, by 2011. This support includes specific feed-in tariffs to help make biogas applications more economically feasible for developers, making the return on investments more predictable and also easier to calculate additional income from the plants. The power generated by the two Jenbacher units, already commissioned on site, will be sold to the regional grid, able to serve the electricity requirements of about 33,000 Thai homes. Additionally, GE’s Jenbacher LEANOX lean mixture emission control system helps the customer attain NOx emissions levels of 500 mg/m3N @ 5% O2.

Because effluent (waste) from the extraction process cannot be disposed without treatment, the company has installed the three Jenbacher biogas engines as part of its waste-water treatment systems at separate mills in Surat Thani and Chumporn (also called “Chumphon”).

The effluent from the extraction process is collected in an open basin, cooled down and then fed into an anaerobic digester. The resulting gas must be dehumidified and cleaned in a desulpherization unit before it is delivered to the Jenbacher units for power generation.