Company To Ramp Up Bio-Diesel Production

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Kampong Speu
24 February 2010

In a small factory in Kampong Speu province, some 30 kilometers south of Phnom Penh, hundreds of barrels of jatropha oil are ready to be turned into bio-diesel. Elliptical-shaped machines prepare to refine the raw jatropha oil.

Since mid-October, 2009, a joint venture company between Cambodia and Japana, NCT Jacam Energy, has been producing bio-diesel from jatropha, a hardy plant that grows on marginal land. The company is ready to expand.

“Now we produce 100 liters of bio-diesel from jatropha grain each day,” Mitagi Masaru, executive director for the company, told VOA Khmer. “Starting from early March, we will increase our production to 500 liters per day. So in total we will produce 600 liters of bio-diesel per day.”

The bio-diesel is locally produced and locally consumed, Masaru said. Once production outstrips local demand, the company will look to export.

The bio-diesel produced here, in the first facility of its kind in Cambodia, is sold to markets in Kampong Speu and Kandal provinces, where it costs 3,000 riel, about $0.75, per liter, which is 400 riel to 500 riel cheaper than regular diesel.

Masaru said his company will need between 1.5 tons and 2 tons of jatropha grain to meet its production goals. That need could expand tenfold, he said, as the company looks to increase production in the next few years.

Jacam Energy does not grow its own jatropha and relies on outside suppliers. A liter of bio-diesel takes 3 kilograms or 4 kilograms of jatropha, at a cost of 500 riel to 1,000 riel per kilogram for the plant grains.

Sat Samy, secretary of state for the Ministry of Mines and Energy, said he hadn’t received any information on bio-diesel production, but he encouraged Jacam Energy to continue.

Greater production would mean more jobs and better incomes for people, he said.

Bio-diesel has been touted by various countries as a means to improve the environment and reduce global warming. Fuel produced from jatropha falls behind bio-diesel made from cassava.

Jacam Energy has invested some $400,000 in refining its fuel, following three years of research and development. Another $100,000 will be added to increase production, said Chheuy sophors, director of the company, which is 51 percent Cambodian owned.

However, he said, the company is facing a shortage of jatropha grain, which threatens the company’s vision.

“We don’t have enough raw material for daily production,” he said. “So we are worried about our business’s sustainability. We call for all farmers to sell their jatropha grain to us. We will buy it.”

Jatropha can also be purchased from Burma, he said.

More than 10 companies have invested in jatropha plantations. They come from China, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

However, farmers have so far not been impressed with the plant or the market for it. Few grow it now, and some have even destroyed their own crops.

“No one came to do a contract with us,” Song Thon, a grower who had joined with a Taiwanese company to grow jatropha, said. “So I decided to grow other crops, like corn, sesame and rice.”

Sat Samy suggested that companies with a clear goal to produce bio-diesel should make contracts with farmers to help encourage confidence and push the development of the fuel.

Cambodia To Begin Jatropha Oil Production

By Ros Sothea, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
30 September 2009

NCT Jacam Energy Co., a joint venture between Cambodia and Japan, will begin production of jatropha oil in October, raising production to an expected 5,000 liters per day for local consumption.

Jatropha can be used to make biodiesel and could be used to meet demands in rural electricity, river ferries and agricultural and construction machinery, said Chheuy Sophors, president of NCT Jacam.

The company began operations in August, with an investment of $400,000 in a factory in Kampong Speu province, following three years of experimentation. However, the company does not have its own jatropha plantation and would require 5,000 tons of the plant per year. Some 3 kilograms to 4 kilograms of jatropha are required for 1 liter of jatropha oil.

The oil can be bought for around 3,400 riel, less than $1, per liter, equal to the current price of petroleum, but it lasts longer, Chheuy Sophors said. It can be used by any machinery that uses petroleum. Cambodia already produces bio-ethanol from cassava, which can be mixed with gasoline.

“If we can produce [jatropha oil], especially to supply rural areas, first of all, our people will have employment and our country won’t need to import oil from outside,” said Sath Samy, secretary of state for the Ministry of Mines and Energy. “Or at least we can reduce imports, as we produce [oil] from jatropha.”

Jatropha is grown in many Asian countries, supplying markets in Europe and the US, where it has become popular as a green product helping reduce global warming.

However, in Cambodia, it is not grown in massive amounts and is generally only found growing along fences outside people’s homes.

More than 10 companies from Japan, Malaysia and China are now investing in growing the plant in Cambodia, covering 3,000 to 4,000 hectares in the provinces of Banteay Meanchey, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Speu, Kampong Cham, Prey Veng and Koh Kong.

Most companies are still in an experimentation stage.

“We are producing jatropha seed for ourselves, and some of them will be sent to our Japanese partner for testing,” said Tum Pen Vireak Vitour, president of Eco-Agro Japan Cambodia Energy, which is growing 100 hectares of jatropha in Preah Sihanouk province.

San Yu, a representative of Singapore’s Green Acres, said his company was growing 100 hectares in Kampong Chhnang but needed a few more years before production. San Yu, also the president of Development and Appropriate Technology, said the delay is due in part to a shortage of seeds in Cambodia.

Other problems include irrigation, low-lying land, and length of time needed to rent land and limitations of local people.

“All of these stop us from speeding up the process,” he said.

Jatropha can survive for 50 years, yielding up to 2 kg per truck after nine months and up to 20 kilograms per truck after 10 years, as long as it is fully irrigated.

Jatropha investments remains low, San Yu said, as people are still waiting to see the progress of other companies.