Bangchak president Anusorn Sangnimnuan yesterday signed an agreement with the Prince of Songkhla University Hat Yai to develop the technology to convert recycled vegetable oil into pure biodiesel.

He said the project should prove popular with the public as it will not only promote clean energy also allow consumers to make money from selling waste vegetable at five Bangchak gas stations in Bangkok.

Bangchak is building a pilot plant to produce 20,000 litres of pure "B100" grade biodiesel per day. This is then mixed with regular diesel in a ratio of 5 per cent to make "B5" grade biodiesel, which is what is sold to motorists. Therefore, it should be able to produce 400,000 litres of B5 biodiesel daily.

The plant, which costs Bt20 million, should start production in November. It will recycle vegetable oil, especially palm oil, that Bangchak will buy at a rate of Bt7 to Bt8 per kilogram. One litre of vegetable oil can be recycled into 0.9 litres of biodiesel. The retail price of "B5" biodiesel is Bt12 per litre.

The company estimates that more than 100 million litres out of the 800 million litres of vegetable oil consumed in the country each year can be recycled. However, most consumers reuse the cooking oil or throw it into waterways.

Anusorn warned that cooking oil should not be used more than once for cooking since this could be harmful to consumers' health.

Bangchak currently sells biodiesel at 13 gas stations, with average daily sales of 5,000 to 6,000 litres each. Biodiesel is currently only Bt0.20 cheaper per litre than regular diesel because of the rising production cost. It was previously priced at Bt0.50 below regular diesel by to encourage people to shift to the alternative fuel.

Anusorn yesterday also urged the Energy Ministry to come up with a clear policy on alternative energy. If the ministry wanted to encourage PTT Plc and Bangchak to increase the number of their outlets selling biodiesel at lower cost, it should support the companies in some way, he said.

The government has asked both companies to increase the number of gas stations where biodiesel is available by 100 each by the year's end and wants to keep the retail price per litre Bt0.50 lower that regular diesel.

Anusorn suggested the government could reduce the companies' contribution to the Oil Fund to help them.

As for Bangchak's plan to construct a Bt1-billion biodiesel complex with capacity of 300,000 litres a day at Bang Pa In in Ayutthaya province, Anusorn said that the screening committee proposed the matter for the Cabinet's consideration last week and a decision was expected soon.

Once approved, the company will immediately proceed with the bidding to select the design and contractors. The complex is likely to adopt the German technology, he said.