Malaysian Palm Oil Millers Tap In To Huge Biogas Potential

This article, which is quoted from the Malaysia Star, very eloquently describes how Malaysian Palm Oil Millers are increasingly tapping in to the huge biogas potential which exists from their abundant palm wastes, left over once they have extracted the palm oil. The figures are very compelling and we would encourage other industries to look at this example and consider their own organic wastes for similar opportunities.

It impresses me greatly to hear that a whole industry is changing its view on organic waste, from a problem to an asset. It vindicates everything that we have been saying on this blog for the last 4 years.

We have included much of this article, but there is more to read on the a Malaysia Star site. Please, do comment and visit the original web site which you should visit via the link at the bottom of the article.

SOME 10 years ago, the oil palm biomass is widely considered as a bane to many oil palm industry players, from plantations right down to the mills and refineries.

Operators are constantly facing rising costs just to dispose and transport the biomass such as the empty fruit bunches (EFB), shells, mesocarp fibre, felled tree fronds and trunk as well as palm oil mill effluent (Pome) after the process of crushing and extraction of palm oil and palm kernel oil from the fresh fruit bunches.

Now, the situation has changed dramatically. What was previously perceived as oil palm waste, is turning into a lucrative income generator for the industry players.
This has resulted in many local industry players, particularly big oil palm plantation groups to actively venture into renewable energy (RE) projects using oil palm biomass as feedstock for electricity power generation, biogas and industrial steam projects.

These projects augur well for Malaysia's palm oil in the eye of the Western green activists and consumers given the increasing worldwide call for green RE to replace fossil fuel to preserve the environment.

Malaysia is currently the world's second largest producer of crude palm oil, but the world's largest exporter of palm oil products.

Given such an abundant source of oil palm biomass nationwide, the Government is quick to acknowledge the potential of power generation, industry players' participation in selling carbon credit under the the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as well as the creation of more downstream businesses for palm oil millers and refiners.

Therefore, various incentives are now available for local players involved in the RE projects utilising palm oil biomass.

It is projected that oil palm biomass-based downstream activities could generate about RM14bil additional revenue to the country's palm oil industry. This is estimated to be a 20% boost to the current palm and palm products revenue of RM80bil.

Depending on whether the eletricity is sold or utilised in the plants, mills can enjoy incentives such as tax exemption of 100% of statutory income for 10 years, and investment tax allowance of 100% for five years to be offset against 100% of statutory income.

In addition, there is an RE Fund which will be utilised to formulate feed-in-tariff rates sufficient to create justification for companies and or individuals to invest in the RE electricity production.
National palm oil custodian, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) is also urging more local palm oil mills to set up more biogas  plants as a mean to boost their revenue and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

At a recent briefing on the update of the palm oil National Key Economic Area (NKEA), MPOB engineering and processing research division director Dr Lim Weng Soon says there is significant revenue to be generated from selling electricity, palm shell displacement, the carbon credit programme and creation of more downstream business for palm oil millers.
 Wan Asma showing some jatropha fruits which can produce high-quality biodiesel.
“Biogas plants connected to the national grid can potentially be looking at a net profit of RM3.4mil per plant per year based on the maximum electricity tariff of 35 sen per kwh,” says Lim when citing an economic analysis on Pome Biogas from the energy production of a typical 60 tonnes fresh fruit bunches (FFB) per hour mill.

To further accelerate the growth in biogas  plants, Lim says the electricity tariff for RE power purchasing agreement has been increased from the current 21 sen to 35 sen per kwh.
Palm shell displacement can also generate revenue.

He says if biogas is used in the boiler, the shell which was orginally burnt in the boiler to produce energy can now be sold.

“The current market price for palm shell ranges between RM160 to RM200 per tonne,” adds Lim.

He also encourages palm oil millers to participate in the CDM programme under the Kyoto Protocol which is involved in the trading of certified emission reductions (CERs) or carbon credit to developed countries.

“The proceed from the sale of CERs will enable them (millers) to invest in more GHG reduction-related projects,” says Lim.

CDM is a United Nations-sponsored agreement under the Kyoto Protocol whereby industrialised countries finance the reduction of global GHG emissions in developing nations and can also purchase carbon credit.

Based on a 60-tonne per hour FFB mill, MPOB has estimated that 30,000 tonnes to 40,000 tonnes of CERs can be generated. Accordingly, based on Euros 10/CO2e (per tonne CO2 equivalent), each mill can earn about RM1.5mil per annum for 21 years.

As of April this year, 90 projects comprising 53 involving palm-based biomass projects have been registered under the CDM.

Lim is also of view that the creation of downstream business in palm oil mills such as kernel crushing plant, EFB processing plant including EFB fibre plant, briquette and pellet plant, composting plant and palm oil refinery may also accelerate the development of biogas plants in palm oil mills.
Lim estimates that Malaysia can mitigate more than 17 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per annum if the biogas  is channelled into energy.
This is based on 54 million tonnes of Pome generated in 2010. “This is equivalent to the annual emissions of 3 million passenger cars and light trucks. This will protect the environment and make our palm oil products more acceptable,” adds Lim.

Under the palm oil NKEA of the Government's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), Malaysia is targeting 500 anaerobic digestion plants to be built in 2020.

The AD plants project under the ETP is expected to generate an estimated RM2.9bil in Gross National Income and create 2,000 jobs by 2020.

The MPOB has set up a Biomass Technology Centre (BTC) in Bangi, Selangor, which is a one-stop centre for R&D on and commercialisation of bio-composites from oil palm biomass, especially medium density fibreboard (MDF).

The BTC is equipped with a MDF pilot plant, material processing plants, material-testing and fibre-analysis laboratories, and a few analytical and bio-composite laboratories.
Many can benefit from the facilities and technologies offered by BTC particularly the MDF pilot plant which is able to produce a variety of wood-based panels and other products similar to industry-manufactured panels.

In fact, local wood-based industries can benefit from the facilities and technologies offered by the BTC as the centre allows the industry to carry out R&D, process optimisation and feasibility studies prior to commercialisation.

Meanwhile, Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) head of bioenergy programme, forest products division Dr Wan Asma Ibrahim says the basic research carried out by FRIM on oil palm biomass started in the 1980s.

“The aim was mainly on utilising the oil palm biomass abundantly generated from the palm mills and plantations as an alternative resource to ease the pressure on tropical timbers for local wood-based industries.

“This is in line with the attack by the global community on the environment issues of depleting tropical forests,” adds Asma.
Furthermore, the pre-processing machines and systems to process the oil palm biomass are also developed with local industries to cater for the raw material supply to suit end-users.
The current FRIM projects on oil palm biomass include:
Conversion of waste palm trees funded by United Nations Environmental Programme. The one-year project reports on the baseline study of the availability, characterisation and utilisation of waste palm tree biomass in Malaysia;

and:

“Oil palm biomass is one of Malaysia's resource material. By fully utilising the oil palm biomass, local industry players such as palm oil millers can capture the carbon and help reduce global warming as opposed to letting it biodegrade and releasing the greenhouse gases,” says Wan Asma.

In addition, she says the oil palm industry can have new wealth creation via efficient utilisation of oil palm waste material and also reduce the heavy dependency on fossil fuels.

View the original article here

United Plantations plans more biogas plants - Malaysia Star

TELUK INTAN: United Plantations Bhd (UP) plans to add more biogas plants in one or two years at its palm oil mills in Malaysia and Indonesia to save energy cost.

Vice-chairman/executive director (corporate affairs) Datuk Carl Bek-Nielsen said the company reduced 25% of fossil fuel usage yearly at its Perak plantation by relying on electricity generated from its biogas plant in Teluk Intan.

 Lim says in view of the fuel-price volatility, plants will enjoy significant cost-savings as the energy generated will reduce the dependency on fossil fuel.

“Currently, we have three biogas plants in the country and they help a lot in terms of cost-savings. Though it is costly to set up a biogas plant, the impact that we receive is really worth it,” he told reporters during a media visit to UP's plant here.

He said the cost of building a biogas plant was about RM7mil and the group had invested RM20mil for its existing three plants.

Meanwhile, Dr Lim Weng Soon, director of Malaysian Palm Oil Board's engineering and processing research division, urged more palm oil mill operators to build biogas plants to boost revenue.
“Mills can use steam or/and electricity generated from the biogas plant for their own use. In view of the fuel-price volatility, plants will enjoy significant cost-savings as the energy generated will reduce the dependency on fossil fuel,” he said.

Under the Palm Oil National Key Economic Area of the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), the country is targeting 500 biogas plants by 2020.

Lim said Malaysia was on track to achieve the target. “There are currently 46 in operation, 22 under construction and another 46 in planning stage.”
Lim said the three states with the highest number of plants are Sabah (10), Johor (nine) and Perak (eight). Of the commissioned plants, 18 are generating electricity for their own use. [Also see http://anaerobic-digestion.com ]

 Independent mill: One of United Plantations Bhd?s three biogas plants.
The biogas plant under the ETP are expected to generate about RM2.9bil in gross national income and create 2,000 jobs by 2020.

In assisting independent millers to fund the development of their biogas plants, an existing Green Technology Fund of RM1.5bil is being set up by the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry.
View the original article here

QL Resources plans to sell renewable energy - Malaysia Star

SHAH ALAM: QL Resources Bhd is looking at selling biogas-generated electricity from its palm oil mill in Tawau, Sabah, under the feed-in tariff system for Malaysia's renewable energy sector, which is due to be implemented in December.

The system will allow domestically produced electricity from renewable energy resources to be sold to power utilities at a fixed premium price for a specific duration.

QL's core divisions are marine products manufacturing, integrated livestock farming and palm oil activities.

Managing director Chia Song Kun said the biogas energy facility at one of the group's two palm oil mills in Sabah would be commissioned this week. The biogas comes from the effluent resulting from the milling process.

“A 50-tonne-per-hour mill can generate two megawatts of electricity.

“Every palm oil mill can sell electricity if they do this (biogas energy). If this project is successful, we may look at selling green power to the Sabah government,” Chia said after the group's EGM yesterday.

He added that the excess bioga-genrated electricity could be used to power other utilities at each mill as well as for the the production of palm pellet biofuel, which is produced from palm oil mill by-products such as empty fruit bunches.

On the murky economic outlook, Chia said QL's performance in the near future might be affected slightly by potentially lower demand for its premium surimi (processed fish paste) products.

“We think there will be weaker demand for higher grade surimi,” he said.

About 30% of QL's marine product sales are from exports to countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China, Taiwan and Vietnam.

“We are still aiming for double-digit growth this year although the economic environment is not favourable,” Chia said.

For its first quarter ended June 30, the group posted a 3.7% year-on-year jump in net profit to RM27.8mil while revenue grew 18.2% to RM454.57mil.

QL attributed the growth in turnover to improved crude palm oil prices, better volume of palm oil fruits processed and higher unit value of feed raw materials.

View the original article here

Scalene Greenergy makes fuel from waste - Malaysia Star

One company is making waves in renewable energy circles with its low-cost organic fuel technology.

THE late Tun Ghafar Baba was known for his folksy politics. His speeches were simple but he delivered the messages with dry humour and blunt irony. Among his pet peeves were slothful farmers and wasteful expanses of idle land in rural areas.

Tongue in cheek, the former Deputy Prime Minister used to chide villagers: ?You too can be rich, if we can just find a market for all this lalang (weed grass) and keladi bunting (water hyacinth) around you,?

Ghafar, the country?s longest serving MP (Jasin and Batu Berendam) passed away in 2006 at the age of 76 ? not realising the current value of lalang and water hyacinth ? as organic feed to produce clean, renewable energy.

Power from weeds: Water hyacinth is a key component feed for the Serigas energy plant in Bangalore, India. The plant processes the common weed and other organic wastes to produce methane biofuel.

He would have been amazed that a variety of weeds along with waste from farms, kitchens, slaughterhouses and even humans, are now being turned into highly purified combustible natural gas that can be used for cooking, power electric turbines and even as fuel for vehicles.

Scalene Greenergy Corporation in India, has developed an organic fuel technology that can be utilised at a relatively low cost.

The company is currently making waves in the renewable energy circles with a continuous stream of visitors from all over the world to its 670sqm gas energy plant, located within its research campus in Bangalore.

Biogas is the result of the anaerobic digestion (decomposition without oxygen) of organic matter. It usually comprises methane and carbon dioxide, with traces of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and nitrogen.

It is not something new. Assyrians used biogas to heat bath water as early as in the 10th century. In the 17th century, Belgian chemist Jan Baptita Van Helmont discovered that decaying organic matter produced flammable gases. Italy?s Count Alessandro Volta noticed the link between the amount of decaying organic matter and flammable gas produced. British scientist Sir Humphry Davy found out that cow dung emitted methane.

In rural India, where biogas or gobar (Hindi for cow dung) gas is widely used as cooking fuel, the first anaerobic digestion plant was built 152 years ago, in a Bombay (now Mumbai) leper colony. But since then, except for newer construction materials, piping and such, there has been very little change in the process and also not much difference in the quality of the gas.

?It has largely remained a simple technology. Bacteria digest the organic matter and produce biogas,? said Dr Rajah Vijay Kumar, chairman and chief executive officer of Scalene Greenergy Corporation Ltd and Scalene Cybernetics.

Besides the low efficiency gas (55% to 65% methane), the basic system also produces carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, a corrosive gas, resulting in pumps breaking down frequently.

Kumar, a researcher in biophysics, nanotechnology and sustainable energy, together with members of his Scalene Energy Research Institute (Seri) team, have developed a process to produce high-purity combustible gas, trade marked as Serigas.

Today, as much as 200kg of Serigas can be produced from one tonne of organic waste ? between 30% to 60% more than from existing systems.

The bioreactors used to process waste and harness biogas can be scaled down for use in offices, homes and small communities.

Improved systems

Nine years of research has resulted in several scientific breakthroughs, like the Serigas bioreactor, which converts any biodegradable material into biomethane (up to 98% pure methane).

A significant part of the process is the microbe incubated bioreactor, designed to completely digest a very wide range of biomass, including lignin cellulose and hemi cellulose, within 10 to 24 days. For a long-time, lignin has been the single biggest technical bio-processing barrier to cellulosic biofuels because it is very difficult and costly to separate lignin from cellulose.

A fuel enrichment technology called ?spiral protium accelerating reactor super enrichment? (Sparse), meanwhile, is a combustion booster innovation that reduces fuel consumption of electricity generators by 50%. One kilogramme of refined Serigas can generate 6.5 units of electricity using the Sparse technology. Without Sparse, the power produced is only 3.5 units.

?Serigas has similar properties to fossil natural gas but without the undesirable impurities like butane, propane, pentane and CO2. Our highly controlled biological reaction has a very low cost of installation compared to other biogas, solar and wind energy systems,? Kumar said.

Computers of the bioreactors monitor parameters such as pH levels, temperature, humidity, hydraulic retention, carbon-hydrogen ratio and correct measures automatically.

Serigas can also be used in conventional diesel generators with minimum modifications.

The generators at Scalene?s power plant are fully computerised to work on input from readings on air-fuel variations, engine speeds, oxygen sensors and the spark ignition system. They produce no harmful emissions, except for water vapour.

Besides the gas, the other output of the plant is the 98% digested substance of the organic feed ? between 2% and 4 % solid and the rest liquid. This is turned into a high-grade fertiliser and alkaloids-rich pest repellent liquid.

As a cooking fuel, Serigas has the efficiency of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) and safety of firewood, besides being the cheapest cooking gas. It can be delivered through domestic gas pipes and conventional gas cylinders.

The high calorific value of Serigas is also comparable to that of LPG, making it an excellent automotive fuel that produces no carbon monoxide and other polluting gases. Serigas can be compressed into 200kg to 250kg canisters for large vehicles and from 20kg to 30kg canisters for smaller vehicles and motorcycles.

Malaysian partnership

Incidentally, it was a Malaysian who got Kumar involved in renewable energy. Dr Ramesan Pillay, who had undergone multiple angiograms, got to know Kumar ? inventor of the Haemoseis 256 machine, a three-dimensional solution for cardiovascular assessment, diagnosis, management and prognosis ? through a mutual friend. The non-evasive machine that provides crucial physiological data is among the medical devices developed by Centre for Advanced Research and Development (CARD) ? a division of Scalene Cybernetics.

Dr Ramesan, who now heads Kuala Lumpur-based Scalene Asia Pacific, said he joined the team by starting out with research into medical devices and later ventured into renewable energy.

Serigas has similar properties to fossil natural gas but without the undesirable impurities like butane, propane, pentane and CO2. ?DR RAJAH VIJAY KUMAR

?I have always had a passion for waste management, especially municipal wastes, after being guided by two Indian experts in the field, Dr S.R. Maley and Mr Anjan Das,? he said.

It was Dr Ramesan who pointed out that there was abundant energy in the keladi bunting floating in the lake which could be used as feed. ?The Serigas technology provides the ideal solution for the huge amounts of wastes that Malaysia produces. It can turn what is now unwanted to most wanted and valued,? he said.

Dr Ramesan said the application can be widely used because the feedstock can be any organic wastes, including the 930 tonnes of leftover food ? the equivalent of 93,000 10kg bags of rice ? that Malaysians throw out daily.

?Palm oil effluent remain a huge problem for the industry. A 40-tonne mill, for example, produces up to 24 tonnes of effluent per hour. One tonne of effluent can produce 100 cu m of methane. One megawatt of power can be generated with 6,000 cu m of methane, or less than three hours of plant operation,? he added.

Dr Ramesan said the huge amounts of agricultural waste from almost every other crop and also from pig, cattle and chicken farms were potential feeds.

?The system can also take municipal solid wastes while processing wastes from hotels, island resorts, hospitals into renewable energy and can be custom built to meet requirements under Scalene?s ?plug-and-play? system, using very little manpower.?

He said the food and beverage industry, particularly beer breweries, were another area of focus. ?Spent grain from breweries is a huge and costly problem to get rid off. This technology offers the simple yet valuable answer to the problem,? he said.

A brewery in India, reputedly the second largest in the world, has commissioned Scalene to provide electricity for its plant using spent grain as feed.

The Scarlene Greenery technology will be showcased at the second International Greentech & Eco Products Exhibition & Conference Malaysia at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from Sept 7 to 10. A portable version, designed for houses, is expected to be on display.

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Sime, TNB and Mitsui to study biogas potential at palm oil mills - Malaysia Star (blog)

KUALA LUMPUR: Sime Darby Plantation Sdn Bhd, a unit of Sime Darby Bhd, yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Malaysia's national power producer, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), and Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsui & Co Ltd to conduct a feasibility study on the potential of biogas projects at eight of its palm oil mills spread across Peninsular Malaysia.

The two-year study will involve the technical feasibility, financial viability and undertaking the necessary preliminary development works for implementation of potential biogas power-generation projects.

(Video not related to text.)

“It is a timely study because today the world continues to grapple with the issue of depleting sources of energy and environmental protection,” Sime Darby Plantation executive vice-president Franki Anthony Dass said in his speech.

 ?It is a timely study because today the world continues to grapple with the issue of depleting sources of energy and environmental protection? FRANKI ANTHONY DASS
“We are confident that the result of the study would be positive and that the three parties would come out of the feasibility study with the proper data to generate electricity at our palm oil mills and further strengthen their green credentials.”

If results of the study show commercial viability, TNB will assist in connectivity of the green power generated to the national grid as well as operations and maintenance expertise, while Mitsui will contribute towards technical design and carbon financing.

Sime Darby Plantation, on the other hand, will provide plant sites through the palm oil mills it operates. According to Dass, by then, biogas production for power generation will no longer be constrained in the eight mills involved in the feasibility study, but also in other mills belonging to the company.

Sime Darby Plantation currently has 62 palm oil mills, of which 40 are in Malaysia and the rest in Indonesia.

“The development of renewable energy projects, such as that of biogas, is timely as it contributes towards the Government's aspirations,” TNB chief operation officer Datuk Ir Azman Mohd explained.

At present, the renewable energy industry is still at its infancy stage in Malaysia, contributing less than 1% to the country's total energy mix. But the Government has recently outlined its plan to have renewable energy generating about 5.5%, or 985 megawatt (MW), of the total electricity generated in the country by 2015, and to eventually increase that to 11%, or 2,080MW, by 2020.

TNB, being a front-runner in the renewable energy in the country, has thus far signed 21 renewable energy power-purchase agreements, which account for a total capacity of 291MW, in the country.

View the original article here

Turning waste into compost the modern way - Malaysia Star

When properly handled, waste from gardens, kitchens and farms can give us compost and biogas.

EVERY day, some staffers of the Malaysian Nuclear Agency in Bangi, Selangor, can be seen lugging three-litre thermal food containers ? the type commonly used by nasi lemak sellers to keep rice warm to work. No, it is not their packed lunch inside but something entirely different: leftover food from home.

(Above video may or may not be related to the Cowtech system referred to in the article.)

Research officer Shyful Azizi Abd Rahman had requested that his 50 colleagues in the agrotechnology and bioscience division bring him the food scraps instead of junking them. He even provides them with the containers to make it convenient and, of course, less messy.

All the waste goes into a 60kg composting machine which Shyful is testing out. The Cowtech Composting & Biogas Production Machine breaks down organic waste with the help of bacteria to yield nutrient-rich compost and biogas, an energy source. For the past six months, Shyful has been feeding the machine all kinds of organic discards in order to assess its efficiency, biogas production and the quality of the compost.

"We first tried agricultural waste but the methane is low. We switched to food waste, and the biogas production is very high, about five to six litres a day", he says.

Organic waste, such as those from farms and kitchens, forms some three-quarters of our waste stream and has always been troublesome. Wet and smelly, it also emits methane when degrading in airtight landfills. Composting is one way to treat organic waste but when done traditionally, will take months. Now, new technologies are being introduced to speed up the process and Cowtech is one of them.

Developed in Thailand over 10 years ago, the technology was introduced here last year by CH Green. Company chief executive officer Ang Lee Kaw says unlike other composting machine which yields only compost, the Cowtech system allows the tapping of biogas generated from waste decomposition as well.

The technology has found favour among several local companies which have had to grapple with disposal of organic waste from landscaping work, food production, staff canteens and agriculture.

Smaller carbon footprint

In the Cowtech system, waste is composted anaerobically (without oxygen) inside the composting machine. Methanogenic bacteria (inoculated into the machine during manufacture) break down the waste into compost, while releasing biogas which is typically made up of methane (50% to 70%), carbon dioxide (24% to 50%), hydrogen sulphide (3% or so) and small amounts of nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen.

The biogas is piped through a scrubber containing iron wool to filter out most of the carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide (which is corrosive), leaving behind a 60% content of methane. This is good enough for direct heating (in stoves and lamps) and in a gen-set to generate electricity. (To use biogas in vehicles, the methane content must reach 80%).

After a retention time of some 15 days, you can harvest the resulting compost, a sludgy slurry (because of high moisture content in food waste,) rich in nutrients welcomed by plants and soil.

The 60kg/day Cowtech composting machine at the Malaysian Nuclear Agency is more for trial runs to assess the technology.

More importantly, the system prevents emission of methane from organic waste dumped in landfills. ?We keep the methane and use it, such as for cooking,? says Ang. ?Flaring (burning) methane is better than releasing it into the air as it has 21 times more global warming potential than carbon dioxide.?

The beauty of the Cowtech system, according to Ang and Shyful, is that it uses little energy. When waste is fed into the machine, the motor needs to run for only about 20 minutes for the mixing. After that, the bacteria get down to work. The machine is turned on only at the next feeding. If there is no electricity, there is a crank to manually churn the waste. Ang calculates the electricity consumption of a 100kg a day machine to be a mere RM1.40.

?You don?t want a system that needs electricity, he says. ?Long hours of heating defeat the purpose of reducing greenhouse gases.?

The system is self-sustaining, he adds, as the digesting bacteria requires no top-up because of the continuous operation. He says in some composting machines, you have to constantly replenish the micro-organisms and maintain a high temperature by heating.

Ang says the Cowtech machine works best at temperatures of around 30?C; so the machine should preferably be placed in or near open shade. The digestion process slows down during wet days and at lower temperatures. He assures us of the safety of the system. ?Biogas is light, so it quickly disperses if leaked. The pressure of the tank is under 2psi, so it will not explode. It is not like LPG (liquid petroleum gas, the normal household cooking gas) which is kept at high pressure and compressed.?

Another safety feature is the water jacket (a layer of water that surrounds the fermentation chamber); any leaked gas will just bubble through the water. An alarm will trigger in the event of a gas leak.

Eco-remedy

Shyful sees promise in the technology as it not only prevents methane discharges but reduces waste at source.

It works well in our warm climate and should be encouraged here. We will try to promote it in critical areas of waste management such as markets and hawker centres, so that waste is managed properly in these places.?

He says the Science, Technology And Innovation Ministry intends to place the machine at some 30 sites, such as in flats, residential areas, food courts and markets, and the community will be trained to run the machine. The first site will be at a market in Tangkak, Johor. The 150kg or so discarded daily will be composted and the gas piped to several hawker stalls.

?The traders now pay daily for waste collection ... this will reduce their waste management costs,? says Shyful.

From his trial runs on the machine, he has figured out areas requiring attention: a better filter, design improvements and better gas storage tank. The tank is important ? it acts as a buffer as gas production fluctuates during decomposition.

As for which composting method is preferable, aerobic (degradation with oxygen) or anaerobic (degradation without oxygen), Shyful says it all depends on the purpose. ?If you want to produce only compost, then use an aerobic digester as composting is quicker. To produce biogas, you need an anaerobic digester.?

The Cowtech system costs from RM39,000 for a 10kg unit to RM235,000 for a 500kg one. Many find this daunting but Ang says one could exploit the Government?s incentive for green technology.

?Under the Accelerated Capital Allowance for Environmental Management, companies using environmental protection equipment are eligible for an initial allowance of 40% and an annual allowance of 20% on the qualifying capital expenditure. The full amount can be written off within three years.?

Ang is hopeful that such fiscal support will encourage more Malaysian companies to compost their waste instead of dumping it. He says in Thailand, the technology has enabled hotels, hospitals, canteens, food outlets, hypermarkets, municipal markets, farms and factories to be responsible for their own waste.

The Baan Nam Kiang Din restaurant in Bangkok, for instance, has a 800kg compost machine to handle its food waste. A Tesco hypermarket in Bangkok also has one, and it sells the biogas to operators in the food court.

In a bid to better inform the public of this waste-reduction technology and for R&D purposes, Ang provides small-capacity compost machines to schools and universities.

Eager to share this knowhow, he says: ?Possible wealth can be generated from various kinds of organic, yard and garden wastes, with appropriate and innovative technology, while practising sustainable environmental initiatives.?

For more information, go to chgreenz.com.

Related Story:
Companies get into composting act

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