Focus on biodiesel as energy source
Singapore is doing well to focus on solar power in its effort to become a green center, but it is equally well placed to take advantage of a growing interest in biodiesel.
It existing infrastructure for refining crude oil will allow it to take on biodiesels in a big way, said Mr David Tee Liang, director of the Advanced Clean Energy Centre.
The center is run by the Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering (IESE) - Nanyang Technological University's technology development compony.
Biodiesel is processed fuel derived from natural oils vehicle fuel through chemical processes and blended with fossil fuels.
"The way biodiesel would be handled is completely analogous to how crude oil already is," Mr Liang said yesterday.
"Crude vegetable oil can be brought in, turned into biodiesel, and sold directly to refineries to be blended with petroleum diesel," he said.
Mr Liang, who was speaking at the opening of the International Conference on Bioenergy Outlook 2007, also lauded the Economic Development Board's commitment to spend $350 million over the next five years to develop clean energy.
The two-day conference, featuring speakers from 14 countries, is focusing on biodiesel and other emerging renewable energy sources.
It seeks to offer solution for deploying biomass resources - such as plant and animal matter - for the production of energy. It will also discuss issues ranging from the economics of biomass energy to climate change implications.
The IESE says that the region is teeming with potential biomass energy resources, with more than half of Asean's total energy consumption already coming from biomass.
Yesterday, Professor Wim H. Rulkens of the Wageningen University in Holland said that sewage sludge can be harnessed as a biomass resource.
It can be processed into biogas or energy-rich liquid fuels - which is already being done in several countries.
The conference will also discuss new "energy crops", like the jatropha curcas nut, seen as a greener alternative to palm oil in the production of biodiesel.
Jatropha will be used by Van Der Horst Biodiesel, which will build two processing plants in the region.
One will be located in Singapore and is schedule to begin production by December next year.
