KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 23 (Bernama) -- Producing palm diesel is still viableeven if the price of crude palm oil (CPO) touches RM2,000 a tonne, says arepresentative of a German refinery equipment firm.

"This is because CPO is a renewable resource compared with crude oil,where estimates have put Malaysia's oil reserves lasting up to anothernext 15 or so," said Erik Tornroth, general manager of Westfalia Separator(M) Sdn Bhd, one of the many exhibitors at the just-ended InternationalPalm Oil Congress (2001 PIPOC). Malaysia now has 3.63 billion barrels ofoil reserves which can last until 2016.

He felt that it was a fallacy to assume that palm diesel would only befeasible if the price of CPO dropped to around RM700 a tonne or below ashappened last year and early this year.

When the price of CPO sank drastically, the authorities were aggressivelypromoting its usage as palm diesel to prop up prices and reduce CPOstocks. The price of CPO has since climbed to around RM1,200 a tonne.

But Tornroth believed that if environmentally-conscious countries were tointroduce legislation to spur greater use of bio-diesel like palm dieselto reduce the effects of environmental degradation, then this meant therewas a lot of promise for palm oil.

For instance, he said Germany had become strict on the use of non-biodegradable carbon fuels in farm areas because of their pollutingcharacteristics.

Given this scenario, Tornroth said it was better for those involved in thepalm oil industry to be prepared for this eventuality when morelegislation was introduced for the use of more envrionmentally-friendlyfuels.

Westfalia, which was founded 20 years ago, represents the GEA Group ofGermany, a leading manufacturer of centrifugal separators and decanters,which are used in the beverage, dairy, oil and fats, chemical andpharmaceutical industries.

Separators and decanters are centrifuges with which solids are removedfrom liquids.

Asked whether the company had struck any sale at 2001 PIPOC, Tornrothsaid,"We were there not to make a sale. We were there to support MPOB(Malaysian Palm Oil Board) to make a success of 2001 PIPOC."

By being at 2001 PIPOC saved the company a lot of time and energy fromhaving to make many calls to potential customers, he said.

Westfalia has a customer base of more than 500 in Malaysia alone.

Tornroth estimated that several hundred visitors came by Westfalia'sbooth, a sizeable portion from the almost 1,500 delegates who had showedup at the congress.

He discerned an interesting trend at this year's congress-cum-exhibition:a lot of Indonesians called at his booth. This, he said, implied thatIndonesian plantation owners and refiners were serious about modernisingtheir refinery operations.

Tornroth also said many retired Malaysian plantation managers had come outof retirement and were working in Indonesian plantations.

Meanwhile, Dr B.K. Tan, research & development controller, refinerydivision at Consolidated Plantations Bhd, said in his working paper,"Thepalm oil car -- a users'experience", that the concept of a palm oil carwas viable,.

Tan, who has clocked 300,000 km in an experimental palm oil-poweredMercedes Benz 124D series since 1992, said the palm oil car may be theparadigm shift for Malaysia's palm oil, petroleum and automobileindustries.

However, he felt that palm olein would be a better alternative than CPO asa palm-based fuel because it had already been refined.

-- BERNAMA