Bangkok--20 May--TISTR
Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR), Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), opened the first Pilot Plant for High Quality Biodiesel Fuel (BDF) Production in Thailand. The pilot plant has production capacity of 1 ton per day and mainly uses the oil from non-edible crop as feed stock, such as the oil from jatropha seeds. It is designed to be environmentally friendly production process. The technology will be a prototype for private sector to up-scaling to industrialization as well as a knowledge center ofbiodiesel production in Thailand.
Dr. Virachai Virameteekul, Minister of Science and Technology presided over the hand-over ceremony of the Pilot Plant for High Quality Biodiesel Fuel (BDF) Production supported by the Japanese Government presented to the representatives of five concerned institutions under the project “Innovation on production and automotive utilization of biofuels from non-food biomass”
Mrs. Kasemsri Homchean, Governor of TISTR presented that the project is performed under the Thailand-Japan Science and Technological cooperation among the five institutions of both sides namely Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR), the National Sciences and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok (KMUTNB) of the Thai side, and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Waseda University of the Japan side. The Japanese Government through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has provided the Pilot Plant for High Quality Biodiesel Fuel (BDF) Production and laboratory equipments.
The Pilot Plant for High Quality Biodiesel Fuel (BDF) Production is located at TISTR, Technopolis, Paathum Thani. It has production capacity of 1 ton per day, semi-automatic and continuous process, which simulates the completed end of biodiesel production. The major components are esterification reactor, transesterification reactor, glycerin separation tanks, washing tank, distillation tower for methanol and water recovery and hydrogenation reactor for upgrading quality of biodiesel in compliance with the international standards of WWFC which can be blended with petroleum diesel for automobile usage. Besides, it isdesigned for environmental friendly technology.
The biodiesel produced from this pilot plant uses the oil from non-edible crop as feedstock, such as the oil from jatropha seeds in order to reduce the controversy of plant for food and plant for energy.
This biodiesel pilot plant is highly suitable to accumulate production data for up-scaling the research work to industrialize scale. In addition, the plant can be utilized to train people who are interested in high quality biodiesel production. It is expected that this technology would be one of the alternative energy to alleviate the shortage of petroleum energy in the future, to increase the value of agricultural raw materials as biodiesel feedstock, to stabilize and securethe demand of energy, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for global climate change mitigation.