KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 (Bernama) - Polyurethanes (PU), which make good heatinsulators, are very popular in temperate countries because they help saveenergy.

They can also be used as a thermal gas insulation for refrigeration. Inother words, PU, usually petroleum-based, are by far the most versatileplastic materials that play an important role in the petrochemicalindustry.

Due to their wide range of applications, world consumption of PU stood atabout 8.5 million tonnes valued over US$10 billion (RM38 billion) lastyear. The projected annual growth rate for PU is about 6.0 percent.

But what about palm oil-based PU? A local firm, InterMed Sdn Bhd, hadjoined hands with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) to come out withpalm oil-based PU and two other products made from palm oil-based PU --dry flower foam (used as a base for flower arrangements) and ceilingboards. These products were exhibited at the just-concluded 2001International Palm Oil Congress (2001 PIPOC) here.

Tan Wang Ing, InterMed's general manager (sales and project), said thecompany had just obtained a trial order of 2.0 tonnes of palm oil-based PUfrom Japan.

InterMed, which received firm enquiries from the US and New Zealand forits Palm Flora Dry Flower Foam and PalmCeil Ceiling Board at theexhibition, is also looking for distributors for these products.

Tan said the current annual consumption of PU in the Asia Pacific is 1.4million tonnes or 16 percent of the world market in terms of volume and isworth US$1.6 billion (RM6.08 billion) in terms of value. This amount, whenmeasured against CPO production, would translate into 13 percent ofMalaysia's annual CPO output of 10.8 million tonnes and 7.3 percent of theglobal production of 19 million tonnes.

"This certainly augurs well for Malaysia, which produces more than half ofthe world's CPO output," said Tan. Tan said palm oil-based PU is derivedfrom polyols, which is made from palm oil-based raw materials.

"This will open up a whole new era of possibilities for new applicationsand partial replacement of petrochmeical-based polyols with palm oil-basedpolyols," he said.

Tan said palm oil-based polyols is also environmentally-friendly andsustainable, unlike petroleum-based polyols. He said a pilot project toproduce palm oil-based PU started in 1984. A RM1 million pilot plant wascommissioned on July 28 last year, mostly financed by MPOB.

Subsequent modifications and fine tuning of the pilot plant were carriedout to ensure process optimisation and safety improvement. "All theserectification works are now completed and the plant is capable ofproducing one metric tonnes of polyols per day."

To-date InterMed has invested RM2 million in the project and "would liketo have the investment returned within two years," said Tan. The companyalso produces office partitions, sandwich wall panels, metal deck roofingpanels and roofing insulations from palm oil-based PU.

It is looking for collaborators to work as industrial collaborators orpartners. "This is a truly Malaysian-made product and industry players arevery enthusiastic about it. Patent has been granted for this process inMalaysia and Singapore," he said. -- BERNAMA