The Energy Ministry is urging research into increasing the yields of energy crops such as cassava and sugar cane to serve the enormous demand for biofuel in the aviation and other transport industries over the next few years.
Thai carriers will therefore have to change to using such fuel and, if the country is not ready to supply it, they could lose competitiveness to countries such as Singapore.
PTT Aromatics and Refining is studying the upgrade of its product into jet biofuel to serve this demand, he said.
Chainoi Puankosoom, president and chief executive of the company, earlier said it was studying the domestic market for feedstock for serving its refinery if it decided to invest in green jet fuel.
It expects to seek board approval this year to proceed with such a venture, whose cost is estimated at US$150 million to $200 million (Bt4.76 billion to Bt6.34 billion).
If domestic demand is insufficient, the company may use palmoil feedstock from Indonesia, in which its parent PTT has invested, to serve jetbiofuel production in the Kingdom.
Twarath said the demand for jet fuel from all airlines using Thai airports was about 4 billion litres per year, or about 11 million to 12 million litres per day.
Once the EU law is implemented in 2012, it is expected that onequarter of the jet fuel used at Thai airports will have to be biofuel. This means the country will have to ensure 3 million to 4 million litres per day is available for such use.
"We're studying the demand for cassava, sugar cane and other plants that have the potential to be energy vegetation, such as algae and sweet sorghum, to be used to produce aviation biofuel," Twarath said.
"After a preliminary study, it is forecast that the feedstock from the local agricultural sector will not be sufficient. While it is possible to increase the supply of energy vegetation by expanding arable areas, the better way is to increase yields, and we need research to help in this matter."
The average cassava crop, for example, is about 3.5 million tonnes per annum. This could be lifted to 15 million to 20 million tonnes if the cultivation process were improved, said Twarath.
Algae are among the energy crops with the potential for high yield. Companies such as PTT Chemical are studying whether to produce biofuel from this source, he said.
Twarath was speaking at the S&T Postgraduate Education and Research Development Office's academic seminar titled "Biofuel Development in Thailand", arranged to urge scientific researchers to focus more on studying ways to build up local production of green fuel.
The office so far has provided Bt50 million for 24 research and development projects into biofuel.
Speaking at the same event, Prasert Reubroycharoen, lecturer in the Faculty of Science at Chulalongkorn University, said that to increase the yields of energy crops, agriculturists had to optimise the process for producing biofuel by enhancing the efficiency of agriculturalwaste storage and developing waste processing to keep the waste for the production of biofuel in the long term.
Meanwhile, researchers should create new technology to reduce production costs, he said.