28/09/05 PETALING JAYA, (Bernama) -- Palm oil plantation companies willinvest a significant amount of funds in new projects to utilise biomass incoming years, according to Golden Hope Plantations Bhd.

Golden Hope said that energy and composting currently seemed to be apopular project choice among the companies.

If the proposed revision of the price of power is implemented, it willdrive further the energy option, the company added.

Other uses of the biomass will have to benchmark against these twoaccepted uses in terms of financial, technology, competency and risk,Golden Hope said at the four-day International Palm Oil Congress (PIPOC)2005 here Wednesday.

The company said in the early 1990s, several studies were carried out todetermine the amount of solid waste generated by the palm oil industry.

It was then concluded that the palm oil industry generates a huge amountof biomass as waste and this should be utilised through value-addingprocesses, it said.

Golden Hope said the palm oil sector is a commodity producer at the mercyof the fluctuating global price level of the core product, crude palm oil(CPO).

"It is often stated that waste is misplaced resource. This is very truefor the palm oil sector," the company said, adding that in the productionof CPO, a large excess amount of biomass is produced.

However, with recent developments in the utilisation of palm-basedbiomass, other new applications were likely to follow, Golden Hope said.

There is already talk of a pulp mill at the implementation stage, it said.

The recovery and the modification of starch and cellulose, and theproduction of fillers for plastic moulding may also take off in thefuture, it added.

-- BERNAMA