06/11/2012 (Energy Business Review) - Malaysian company BBC Biogas has signed an agreement to construct a plant in Sarawak employing the technology of Japan-based Kubota Corporation.

The plant is expected to be located beside a new palm oil mill and will treat the effluents from the mill at the rate of 60 metric tons an hour.

BBC's plant would utilize the Anaerobic and Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor System of Kubota that integrates the two processes to extract biogas from the effluent and treat waste water before discharge.

As per regulations, the discharged effluent is required to contain a biological oxygen demand (BOD) of below 20ppm.

Kubota international business promotion department general manager Toshihiko Kurosawa was quoted by The Borneo Post as saying that the plant is not only a strategic alliance but also favors sustainable development with no harm to the environment.

Palm Oil Mill director Christopher Yek added that a biogas plant within a mill is consistent with the government's Economic Transformation Program.

"The biogas can be used as an alternative fuel in boilers, which is a cleaner fuel replacing palm kernel shells," Yek said.