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Biomass is one of the most important
sources of renewable energy in Malaysia. The National Biofuel Policy,
launched in 2006 encourages the use of environmentally friendly,
sustainable and viable sources of biomass energy. Under the Five Fuel
Policy, the government of Malaysia has identified biomass as one of the
potential renewable energy. Malaysia produces atleast 168 million tonnes
of biomass, including timber and oil palm waste, rice husks, coconut
trunk fibres, municipal waste and sugar cane waste annually. Being a
major agricultural commodity producer in the region Malaysia is well
positioned amongst the ASEAN countries to promote the use of biomass as a
renewable energy source.
Malaysia has been one of the world’s
largest producers and exporters of palm oil for the last forty years.
The Palm Oil industry, besides producing Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and Palm
Kernel Oil, produces Palm Shell, Press Fibre, Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB),
Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME), Palm Trunk (during replanting) and Palm
Fronds (during pruning). Almost 70% of the volume from the processing of
fresh fruit bunch is removed as waste. Malaysia has approximately 4
million hectares of land under oil palm plantation. Over 75% of total
area planted is located in just four states, Sabah, Johor, Pahang and
Sarawak, each of which has over half a million hectares under
cultivation. The total amount of processed FFB (Fresh Fruit Bunches) was
estimated to be 75 million tons while the total amount of EFB produced
was estimated to be 16.6 million tons. Around 58 million tons of POME is
produced in Malaysia annually, which has the potential to produce an
estimated 15 billion m3 of biogas can be produced each year.
Rice husk is another important
agricultural biomass resource in Malaysia with good potential for power
cogeneration. An example of its attractive energy potential is biomass
power plant in the state of Perlis which uses rice husk as the main
source of fuel and generates 10 MW power to meet the requirements of
30,000 households. The US$15 million project has been undertaken by
Bio-Renewable Power Sdn Bhd in collaboration with the Perlis state
government, while technology provider is Finland’s Foster Wheeler
Energia Oy.
Under the EC-ASEAN Cogeneration Program,
there are three ongoing Full Scale Demonstration Projects (FSDPs) – Titi
Serong, Sungai Dingin Palm Oil Mill and TSH Bioenergy – to promote
biomass energy systems in Malaysia. The 1.5MW Titi Serong power plant,
located at Parit Buntar (Perak), is based on rice husk while the 2MW
Sungai Dingin Palm Oil Mill project make use of palm kernel shell and
fibre to generate steam and electricity. The 14MW TSH Bioenergy Sdn Bhd,
located at Tawau (Sabah), is the biggest biomass power plant in
Malaysia and utilizes empty fruit bunches, palm oil fibre and palm
kernel shell as fuel resources.
