Ambitious Plans for Pyrolysis in Malaysia

The Malaysian government has ambitious plans for the pyrolytic conversion of palm waste to biofuels -- intending to have 9 pyrolysis plants operating by 2015, using Canadian technology.

Malaysia plans to have nine plants in operation by 2015 generating 1.1 million tonnes of biofuel annually.

Ensyn and its partner Honeywell, a U.S. engineering giant, will provide the expertise to build the plant. Terms of the Malaysian project were not disclosed.

The partners are working on similar projects in Canada and Europe based on Ensyn's rapid thermal conversion technology.

Ensyn won a contract to run a company-owned $80- million plant in northern Alberta which will turn sawmill waste into biofuel used to generate electricity.

The technology processes waste under intense pressure in the absence of oxygen.

Ensyn founder and chief executive officer Robert Graham has been working since 1984 on rapid thermal technology. An Ensyn Renfrew refinery has been producing and selling biofuel for seven years for a variety of industrial customers. It also has six plants in Wisconsin.

With Honeywell, it recently won a $25-million award from the U.S. department of energy for a demonstration plant in Hawaii to process algae, wood and agriculture waste. It is also working on a project in Italy which will generate electricity. _OttawaCitizen_via_BiofuelsDigest

Pyrolysis and gasification are two of the more promising near-term approaches to making fuels, chemicals, and electric power (plus co-products) from waste cellulosic biomass.