PTT offers 'miracle of natural gas'

During Feb 12-17, visitors to Rayong witnessed "Miracle of Natural Gas", an initiative by PTT in collaboration with Chiang Mai University, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), the Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Dutch Embassy featuring non-tropical flowers.

Until February 17 at HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Herbal Garden, tens of thousands of tulips and lilies will be on display. Visitors will be shown how these non-tropical flowers are grown with the help of cooling produced by the vaporisation of liquefied natural gas.

Chakree Buranakanon, senior executive vice president of PTT, said carbon dioxide, a by-product from the gas-separation plant, is also channeled into the greenhouses. Under experimentation since 2011 is the plantation of non-tropical vegetables and flowers such as tulips, lilies, strawberries and rosemary in energy-saving greenhouses.

"The result is satisfactory. The plants and flowers are growing well and blossom in all seasons. Their growth rate is 12 per cent higher than conventional plants," he said.

"The success of this project would mean the creation of new jobs and increases in community revenue, particularly for farmers in Rayong, as non-tropical flowers and vegetables are in high demand and expensive. Meanwhile, this will increase Thailand's competitiveness in terms of agricultural technology," he said.

PTT is also cooperating with KMUTT to conduct research and development on storing cool energy, to facilitate the transport of gas from the separation plants.

Chakree expects the prototype technology to be ready for demonstration this year.