BENTONG, May 10 (Bernama) -- Steam boiler manufacturer Enco Danstoker (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd plans to build a RM22 million biomass steam plant which uses a cleaner development mechanism application to reduce the dependency on fuel for power.

Its managing director Ng Lam Chun said the company was engaged by Pascorp Paper Industries Bhd, a subsidiary of Pahang State Economic Development Corporation, to build the biomass plant to supply Pascorp Paper's paper manufacturing operations in Bentong.

Construction of the proposed plant, to be be located adjacent to Pascorp Paper's operations, would start in two months' time after approval from the relevant authorities, Ng told Bernama after a meeting on the cleaner development mechanism application with the public, here Wednesday.

According to him, the environment-friendly plant will be using empty fruit bunches, mesocarp fibre, wood waste and old furniture for burning purposes to cut down the fuel cost.

"We will be sourcing the waste materials from the palm oil mills and wood producers around this area. Mostly, all waste materials by factories that are not used end up in landfills," he said.

The plant is expected to be completed in the middle of 2007 and then start supplying steams (alternative fuel) to Pascorp Paper, he added.

At present, Enco Danstoker has 12 biomass plants located in Sabah, Melaka, Perak, Kedah, Selangor and Thailand, out of which three plants are qualified for the clean development mechanism application.

Pascorp Paper's managing director Mas'ut A. Samah said the company will be buying the steams from Enco Danstoker to replace the existing fuel.

He said the company was using 1.5 million litres of fuel per month, at a cost of 70 sen per litre last year and about RM1.20 per litre currently.

Mas'ut said with the usage of biomass fuel, Pascorp Paper is expected to reduce its fuel consumption cost by 25 percent.

He said the company, which has targeted revenue of RM160 million this year compared with RM150 million last year, is also concerned with environmental issues such as global warming and pollution.

-- BERNAMA