International Conference on Biofuels in Malaysia

Background

Given that Malaysia is one of the world’s largest producers of palm oil, the palm oil industry is spearheading the biofuel thrust in Malaysia. A National Biofuels Policy was launched in March 2006 which encouraged the production of biofuels, especially biofuels from palm oil for export and the use of palm biofuels blended with petroleum diesel locally. Besides producing palm oil, the oil palm industry also generates a huge amount of biomass in the form of fibres, shell, empty fruit bunches, oil palm trunks and oil palm fronds. These may be utilised directly to produce energy or used as feedstock to produce second-generation biofuel. Research and development in this area need to be urged in order to further explore the potential of this feedstock for biofuel and to further develop the renewable energy sector.

Objectives

This conference, organized by UNIDO together with the Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) and Malaysia Palm Oil Board (MPOB) addressed issues such as global developments, supply, demand, economics and sustainability of biofuels. The conference further offered an opportunity to discuss the role of governments, the importance of regulatory framework as well as the market outlook for product biofuels, its feedstock, auxiliary materials and by-product, new technologies and utilization of wastes. The conference was the first in a series in the context of UNIDO's biofuels programme. The second meeting in the series was the High-level Biofuels Seminar in Africa in Ethiopia.

Participants

The two-day conference attracted some 400 participants from 26 countries, representing a cross section of the industry, including growers of crop oils, refiners, traders, investment promotion agencies, bankers, researchers, biofuel manufacturers and NGOs. Representatives of investment promotion agencies of both Asia and Africa as well as those of the AU, ECOWAS and COMESA were among the participants at the sponsorship of UNIDO.