Tapioca firms mull ethanol
Soaring world oil prices combined with unstable prices for cassava root have led Thai manufacturers of tapioca starch to turn to the production of ethanol to boost their returns and lift the value of the country's cassava crop. They see a new and lucrative market rising from demand for alternative fuels.
The starch manufacturers have initial plans for three ethanol manufacturing plants to be set up by the end of this year, each producing 50,000 litres per day. They will use as a raw material cellulosic biomass, a by-product from the tapioca starch manufacturing process. Falling prices for tapioca products domestically and internationally have encouraged manufacturers to seek alternative sources of income, according to Preecha Temprom, president of the Tapioca Starch Association. The price of the tapioca by-product from which ethanol can be produced is only of Bt1,000 per tonne, but considerable value will be added when it is used to make the biofuel, he said. The government guarantees a price of Bt23 per litre for ethanol, while the cost of producing it is lower than Bt20 per litre. Tapioca starch manufacturers have been attracted by the price gap of between Bt3 and Bt4 per litre. "We [starch manufacturers] are rushing to capture the great opportunity of that trend," Preecha said. Each new ethanol manufacturing plants is expected to cost about Bt200 million. Innovative ethanol-production machinery is likely to be imported from China. The first plants will be located in Nakhon Ratchasima, Chon Buri, and another eastern province. Operators are in the process of seeking licensing approval from the government. Currently, Thailand has only two firms producing ethanol, Thai Nguan Ethanol Co and the International Gasohol Corporation. Both make the alcohol using molasses as a raw material. Preecha said a shortage of the molasses, a pulpy residue left after the extraction of juice from sugar cane, would force ethanol manufacturers to use tapioca by-product as a raw material instead. He said that every 1,000 tonnes of tapioca production creates 350 tonnes of by-product which in turn can produce 15,000 litres of ethanol. But exports of tapioca chips to China had fallen slightly in the first quarter of this year after outbreaks of bird flu led China's poultry industry to use local maize to make feed meal instead. Aslos, the price of tapioca has declined to between US$205 and $210 (Bt7,831 and Bt8,022) per tonne, whereas a suitable price would be about $240 per tonne, Preecha said.
Petchanet Pratruangkrai The Nation
|
