Industries with boiler ops can help in CPO initiativeKuala Lumpur (Business Times) 11 June 2001 - INDUSTRIES in Malaysia whichuse boilers in their manufacturing activities can take up a monthly totalof 50,000 tonnes of crude palm oil (CPO) to power up their generators.

An industry source said there are hundreds of boilers used by variousindustries in Malaysia and they can assist in the CPO burning initiativeaimed at reducing the national palm oil stocks.

"Industries which can take up palm oil in their boiler operations includebrick and tile factories, sugar refineries, chemical companies,tyremakers, food industries, glass makers, steel mills, papermills andseveral oil and fats refiners," the source told Business Times in KualaLumpur late last week.

He noted that leading cement producer APMC Sdn Bhd uses up to 24,000tonnes of medium fuel oil (MFO) a year and 17,000 tonnes of diesel in itsboilers for its cement production activities.

For CPO to be burned as fuel for generators, it has to be blended with MFOor diesel prior to burning at a set ratio, such as 20 per cent CPO and 80per cent MFO or diesel.

The project has proven to be successful and viable with numerous testsconducted over the years by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB).

"What needs to be sorted out now is the price factor in which a subsidyfor the commodity must be introduced by the Government for the industriesto buy CPO similar to the subsidy for diesel consumption currently," thesource said.

The Government had in April introduced the burning of CPO project in whicha targeted amount of between 20,000 tonnes and 50,000 tonnes of CPO isexpected to be burnt each month.

It was introduced as part of the Government's efforts to combat low pricesand excessive production of the commodity which had reached an alarminglevel of 10.6 million tonnes last year.

The project is supposed to take away some 500,000 tonnes of CPO, or 5 percent of the national production by this year end.

In April, the endeavour started on a national scale beginning at Tenaga'spower plant generator in Prai, Penang.

However it could not be extended to all Tenaga's power plants because 80per cent its power plants are powered by gas and not by MFO or diesel.

Tenaga officials and players from the palm oil sector are taking theproject back to the drawing board and have identified new candidates suchas the industries as mentioned above during a meeting at the PrimaryIndustries last Friday.

The maiden project is also currently being focused in Sabah and Sarawakwhereby Tenaga's generators in the two states have also being identifiedas prime candidates for the burning of CPO project.

"It is hoped that with all these recommendations the project will berevived and industries are willing to take part.

But until then, all these are just proposals," the source concluded