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Bangkok. In a research laboratory near Bangkok, Dr Vorakan Burapatana toys with a gleaming contraption full of tubes, containers, dials and electrical connections.  

The machine is used for fermenting — it breaks down vegetable matter and converts the sugar content into biofuel.  

A young researcher nearby sorts out jars of rice straw, the dry leftovers from a harvest which would otherwise be burned.  

After the fermenting machine breaks it down, scientists will test small quantities of fuel in engines and vehicles in other buildings in the sprawling PTT Research and Technology Institute belonging to Thailand's giant state-owned PTT Corp.  

Here and in other research facilities across the country, scientists are also working on ways to convert local species of pond algae into biofuel.  

The efficient conversion of algae to fuel is still a long way off, but creating ethanol from biomass such as rice straw is closer.  

PTT plans to start building its first pilot plant by the end of this year. It will produce about 455,000 liters of ethanol a year.  

PTT is Thailand's largest company, with interests across the energy field. Its net income for the first quarter of this year was 34.5 billion baht ($1.14 billion).  

The research at its lab is a critical part of efforts to produce ethanol from plants on a large but cost-effective scale.  

If Thailand manages to convert agricultural waste into fuel, it will create more options for feeding a growing economy. It would also put the brakes on costly imports and greenhouse gas emissions, and avoid the controversy created by competition between biofuel and food crops.  

Well over half of Thailand's population of 65 million are engaged in farming, and converting from food to fuel is politically loaded. Yet it is imperative for Thailand to find new sources of fuel.  

Around 70 percent of Thailand's electricity is produced from natural gas, mostly imported from Myanmar. But when it comes to transport, the country still has to import oil.  

Thailand imports around 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day, and the volume is edging up steadily, with occasional spikes in world crude prices putting a big dent in Bangkok's budget. In February for instance, Thailand's crude oil import bill was US$2.26 billion — up 13.5 percent over that of the same month a year earlier.  

According to a March 2009 World Bank-National Economic and Social Development Board study, the country's transport sector swallows 73 percent of its petroleum and petroleum products.  

The study noted: “With... only a small amount coming from renewable energy, the security of Thailand's energy supplies is highly vulnerable to possible future supply constraints or rapid price increases.”  

PTT's chief financial officer Tevin Vongvanich told The Straits Times: “Going into the future, we need to look at technology that will produce ethanol and biodiesel from the remaining part of the plants — the cellulose, not the food part.  
 
“That will not compete for the food chain of people. That is something we need to work out.”  

Biofuel is a key part of Thailand's renewable energy mix for the future. Yet a rush to grow biofuel crops — mostly sugar cane, cassava and palm oil — that will put money in the pockets of farmers can also reduce the amount of land available for food crops.  

In December last year, Thai Chamber of Commerce deputy secretary-general Pornsil Patchrintanakul warned: “Without a clear-cut policy, rice farmland will be replaced by energy crops which will... affect the country's food security and farmers' career security.”  

The research at PTT's lab — and others — will be critical in heading off the clash between food and fuel.  

Stockholm Environment Institute research fellow Maria Osbeck, who has studied biofuels in South-east Asia, said in a phone interview that while transition to renewable energy sources was essential, producing feed stock for biofuels was already driving changes in land use in Thailand.  

Palm oil and sugar cane are rapidly converting land used for food crops, as well as land with high biodiversity. Research into producing biofuels from waste is crucial, to “find alternatives... that don't require vast amounts of land,” she said.  

Tevin said: “We are in the process of learning. People in the energy industry are quite concerned, because development projects face resistance whatever you want to do.  

“Biofuel involves so many entities in government — from the Ministry of Agriculture to Energy to Commerce. It will take some time to get it right.”  

At PTT's lab, Vorakan, who has a PhD from Vanderbilt University in the United States, said: “We waste biomass by burning millions of tons of rice straw in open fields.”  

PTT estimates that 10 million tons are burned in Thailand every year. “With the cellulose and ethanol platforms we are developing, we can now convert the sugar in the biomass to other products — not just ethanol but biodegradable plastics too.”  

The government wants to replace 20.3 percent of energy use with renewable or alternative energy by 2022, Krairit Nilkuha, director-general of the Ministry of Energy's department of alternative energy development and efficiency, said.  

But it has to get local communities to understand and agree to new energy projects. So every month, Krairit visits far-flung provinces and islands to speak to local residents about developing such projects.   “Investors, and the government, have to involve the people,” he said.      


Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055