SEPANG, Dec 6 (Bernama) -- A German company, which offers train, servicesis now seriously considering using palm diesel to power its fleet oftrains, Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) chairman Tan Sri Basir Ismail saidMonday.

He said MPOB recently sold 20 tonnes of palm diesel to the company to beused as fuel for trains.

"The trial was very promising and the company is now considering usingpalm diesel to power its trains," he said in his speech at the officiallaunch of 2004 MPOB National Seminar on Green and Renewable Biofuel heretoday.

With the encouraging development, Basir urged the palm oil industryplayers to take this opportunity to actively promote the use of palm oilas raw materials for the biofuel industry of the temperate countries.

He said MPOB has developed a process to produce low pour point palm dieselwhich can meet the stringent winter specifications of diesel of -20.

In this respect, Basir added MPOB has just approved a project for thedevelopment of a modular palm diesel plant on a commercial basis.

He said the idea was to export palm diesel production plant at competitiveprice and commission it in the shortest possible time.

"If successful, it will undoubtedly increase the usage of palm oil as rawmaterial for the global biofuel industry," he added.

-- BERNAMA