Thailand will supply another 155,000 tonnes and Pakistan 10,000 tonnes for a grand total of 580,000 tonnes. - The Nation.

SCG Power of Innovation Awards

The Siam Cement Group recently announced the winners of the SCG Power of Innovation Awards 2006, the company's internal innovative-talent competition.

Four best teams took home total cash prizes of Bt3 million.

The annual competition is a forum for SCG staff from the six business units - Chemicals, Paper, Cement, Building Materials, Distribution and Corporate Function/Joint-Venture Business - to exercise their creative energy into innovative and practical forms that add value to SCG products, services and operation.

This year's finalists from 250 entrants in three categories demonstrated outstanding originality and far-reaching practicality, impressing expert judges and SCG colleagues alike.

The award categories and their respective winners are as follows:

l Best Innovative Product Award: the Non-A Colour Roman Tile Team from the Building Materials unit - a cash prize of Bt1 million.

l Outstanding Innovative Manufacturing Process Award:

the Vacuum Pump Sealing Water PM7 Team from the Paper unit and the Innovative Hybrid Dryer Team from the Cement unit - a cash prize of Bt500,000 to each team.

l Outstanding Innovative Service and Non-Manufacturing Process Award: the Easy Payment Team from the Chemicals unit - a cash prize of Bt500,000.

l Judging Committee Special Award: the Customer-Centric Kampot Plastering Cement Team from the Cement unit - a cash prize of Bt500,000. - The Nation.

Turning sugar waste into energy

The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Pathum Thani is embarking on a yearlong project to study the use of European technology in turning waste products from sugar mills into energy. This could result in a decreased dependency on fossil fuels in Thailand.

Cogen-AIT, a service centre within AIT's energy programme, aims at promoting a sustainable environment through the development and implementation of clean and efficient energy projects. The centre is coordinating a project called "Training on and Transfer of Efficient EU Technologies in the Sugar Sector in Thailand", in collaboration with the Centre Wallon de Recherches Agronomiques, a public agricultural research centre run by the regional government of Wallonia in Belgium.

The project is co-funded by the EU through its Small Projects Facility, an economic-cooperation programme between the EU and the Thai government.

The project is being coordinated by Remigio Henson and Christine Widjaya with support from faculty members from AIT's energy programme.

All project results will be published on the project's website for further dissemination. - The Nation.