BIODIESEL vs NGV !!

In recent week there have been various statements made by a Deputy Minister about the promotion of BioDiesel usage in Malaysia.

It seem that Malaysia will see lots of BioDiesel Vehicles on their streets starting year 2007. I will not be suprised if the PM announce some great incentives for BioDiesel usage in his Friday 9th Malaysia plans.

I am amused with the idea but let us look at both the Positive and Negative points on BioDiesel verses Natural Gas (NGV).

Biodiesel is defined as fuel that are made of high percentage of Petroleum Diesel plus not more then 20% of Palm Oil (B20). The lesser the amount of the Palm Oil the better is the calorific value when burned.

What are their advantages/disadvantages and compared with NGV?

1) Every liter of BioDiesel that burns, the exhaust gas produces 20% less as compared to a 100% Diesel. Right? This would mean 20% less pollutants as compared to burning 100% diesel. We are still polluting the air by 80%.

2) Biodiesel is suitable only for Diesel Operated Engines. U cannot use them on Petrol Operated vehicles. So out of 7.5 million vehicles in Malaysia only 500,000 commercial vehicles can use Biodiesel. In comparison, NGV can be used for all vehicles i.e. either Diesel operated or Petrol Operated.

3) Bulk of BioDiesel is actually Diesel (80%). If diesel is the bulked, then there is no way it can be much cheaper then NGV. Currently price of subsidised Diesel at any Petrol pump is RM1.58. If 20% is made up of Palm Oil, with currenlt palm oil price plus cost to built a refinary to process, it will never be less then RM1.25. You know that NGV retail price now is 68 sen.

4) If the goverment promote the use of Biodiesel, there will be two important things happenning. Firstly, there will be more palm oil plantation in this region and all those virgin jungles will be cut down and converted to Palm Oil Plantation. Our next Generation will no longer know what is orang hutan, rhino, elephant and etc. These animal will be totally disappeared. Secondly, we need to import more diesel to blend with the Palm Oil. Our trade balance will be effected.
Read this:

QUOTE:

Last week, the chairman of Malaysia's federal land development authority announced that he was about to build a new biodiesel plant. His was the ninth such decision in four months. Four new refineries are being built in Peninsula Malaysia, one in Sarawak and two in Rotterdam. Two foreign consortiums - one German, one American - are setting up rival plants in Singapore. All of them will be making biodiesel from the same source: oil from palm trees.

"The demand for biodiesel," the Malaysian Star reports, "will come from the European Community ... This fresh demand ... would, at the very least, take up most of Malaysia's crude palm oil inventories." Why? Because it is cheaper than biodiesel made from any other crop.

In September, Friends of the Earth published a report about the impact of palm oil production. "Between 1985 and 2000," it found, "the development of oil-palm plantations was responsible for an estimated 87 per cent of deforestation in Malaysia". In Sumatra and Borneo, some 4 million hectares of forest have been converted to palm farms. Now a further 6 million hectares are scheduled for clearance in Malaysia, and 16.5 million in Indonesia.

Almost all the remaining forest is at risk. Even the famous Tanjung Puting national park in Kalimantan is being ripped apart by oil planters. The orangutan is likely to become extinct in the wild. Sumatran rhinos, tigers, gibbons, tapirs, proboscis monkeys and thousands of other species could go the same way. Thousands of indigenous people have been evicted from their lands, and some 500 Indonesians have been tortured when they tried to resist. The forest fires which every so often smother the region in smog are mostly started by the palm growers. The entire region is being turned into a gigantic vegetable oil field.

Before oil palms, which are small and scrubby, are planted, vast forest trees, containing a much greater store of carbon, must be felled and burnt. Having used up the drier lands, the plantations are moving into the swamp forests, which grow on peat. When they've cut the trees, the planters drain the ground. As the peat dries it oxidises, releasing even more carbon dioxide than the trees. In terms of its impact on both the local and global environments, palm biodiesel is more destructive than crude oil from Nigeria.

UNQUOTE:
From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1659036,00.html


Well for NGV, we have huge reservoirs of Natural Gas at our backyard. We are the 12th largest Natural Gas reserve holder in the World. We have gas reserves that can last for more then 150 years if we properly managed. We have three LNG plants that can produced 23 Million Metric Tons a year. What we need the most is about 1 million a year to fuel all the vehicles on our road.
If you see what I see is that by choosing NGV, we will save the forest or at least slow down the cutting down of the virgin Jungles.

5) While we try to cut the air pollution down by 20%, assuming that we use B20 (biodiesel with 20% palm oil), we are actually creating much more pollution when we got to burn the jungles and Palm oil residues (the leaves, trunk, husk, kernel and etc) before and after we produce the Palm Oil. So the word "Reducing Air Pollution" when you use Biodiesel is nonsensical. If we use NGV, we are talking about 100% free of pollution when we burned the natural gas and no jungles and Palm oil residue will be burned or disposed off?

6) What about the cost to convert to NGV? Yes there is a slight cost impact but considering the amount of savings the cost outlay can be recovered withnin 18 months. The initial cost pay by itself. Please be reminded that converted from diesel to Biodiesel is not straight forward, there are various modification needed to be done on your vehicle. Your cooling system must be modified to reduce over heating when you are clocking long distant travelling. You saving by swithing to biodiesel is marginal and not very rewarding.

Based on the above, I think it is not sensible for Malaysians to switch to BioDiesel. We should demand that NGV be the first choice as our Alternative Fuel. We want those gas trapped in the gas reservoirs be produced and allowed Malaysian to enjoy the benefits and any excess will then be exported.