Bio-fuel is way forward: Gov’t

The Government of Viet Nam has guided its ministries to encourage bio-fuel development to reduce dependence on the fossil fuels and to protect the environment.

Viet Nam’s increasing number of cars and industrial production consumed 15 million tonnes of petrol and diesel last year, 4 per cent higher than the previous year, and are estimated to consume 16 million tonnes this year.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai last week urged ministries to give incentives for the production and use of bio-fuel, which was defined as fuel made from plantations such as cassava, coconut, sesame, peanut, flax and jatropha, or animal products, such as catfish fat.

Under a proposal for bio-fuel development to 2015 with a vision to 2025, the country would develop 1.8 million tonnes of ethanol and plantation oil, meeting 5 per cent of domestic petrol demand in the next 15 years.

Institute for Applied Materials Science director Ho Son Lam said many oil producing plants grew well in poor and hilly soil.

Statistic showed there were about 4 million hectares of abandoned hill country in Viet Nam – including more than half the Central Highlands – which was suitable for growing jatropha curcas, the crop that many countries used for bio fuel.

Lam said jatropha had a high oil content, with 1ha producing 1-3 tonnes of bio-diesel.

Growing crops for bio-fuel and building processing zones would create jobs and help reduce poverty, while reforestation would limit the influence of climate change and prevent landslides.

Lam said Mekong Delta factories produced 30,000 tonnes of catfish fat each year, which was used to make bio-diesel at An Giang University and the Agifish Company.

Experimental plantations of jatropha, which grows in poor soils and has a life cycle of 30 years, are being grown in various areas with 300,000ha tipped to process about 300 tonnes of crude oil per year.

Viet Nam would have five ethanol factories by next year with the total capital of 365,000 tonnes, enough to produce 7.3 million tonnes of E5 petrol.

The Dong Xanh Joint Stock Company’s ethanol plant in central Quang Nam province had a capacity of 120 million litres a year. Three other ethanol factories with similar capacities were being built in the centre and north while other two factories in southern Can Tho City and An Giang Province were making bio-diesel from catfish fat.

Vu Thu Ha, deputy chief of the National Laboratory for Refinery under the Viet Nam Institute of Industrial Chemistry, said both E5 petrol and B5 diesel were proven to cause no harm to engines but they did reduce emissions.

The government has urged an experimental distribution network be worked out for bio-fuels, such as E5 petrol, which includes 95 per cent petrol and 5 per cent ethanol, as well as experimental production of bio diesel oil, a mix of 95 per cent oil and 5 per cent of bio oil. Under the document, the Prime Minister also asked the ministry to build regulations for distribution and consumption of the fuel. — VNS

Bio-fuels have 70 per cent less CO2 emissions and 30 per cent less poisonous chemical emissions compared with petrol. Bio-fuel made from sugar has 89 per cent less CO2 gas.

Compared with traditional fuel like coal and gas, bio-fuel produces less greenhouse gases, disintegrates faster and does less harm to water and land resources. It also causes less wear and tear on engines.

A United Nations Environment Programme report showed bio fuels accounted for 1.8 per cent of transport fuel, with ethanol production having tripled between 2000-07 and biodiesel production rising eleven-fold.

The report also said mandates to blend biofuel into fossil fuels for vehicles had been enacted in 17 countries by 2006, mostly requiring blending with 10-15 per cent ethanol or 2-5 per cent biodiesel.

Brazil exported 5 billion litres of ethanol in 2008 while the investment in biofuels rose to US$4 billion in 2007 and had most likely risen substantially since then.

Tags: Bio-fuel