Malaysia is a country situated strategically in the
middle of South East Asia and blessed with fertile
agriculture land. With its rich agro-biomass
resources as well as booming agriculture industry,
it is widely recognized that Malaysia has what it
takes to develop its biomass industry. In parallel
with the introduction of the National Green
Technology Policy in 2009, the 10th Malaysia Plan
(10MP) and the Economic Transformation
Programme(ETP) in 2010, as well as the
Renewable Energy Act 2011, Malaysia is gearing
up to unlock the wealth creation potential of
its biomass industry.
Areas of focus include:
·Biomass as energy includes conversion of
biomass feedstock into solid biofuel (pellets,
briquettes),biomass power plant projects
(co-firing, methane capture), liquid biofuel
such as diesel and ethanol.
·Biomass as high value chemicals applies to the
development of valuable chemical precursors such
as sugar alcohols, ethanol, and lactic acid.
·Biomass as eco-products refers to utilization of
biomass feedstock in materials such as pulp and
paper, biocomposite, and bioplastics as
sustainable substitution for fossil-based
materials.
The biomass industry represents several different
industries brought together by the utilization of
renewable organic matters including timber waste,
oilpalm waste, rice husk; coconut trunk fibers,
municipalwaste, sugar cane waste, etc (refer to
Figure 1 below)These organic materials have the
potential to be used in the manufacturing of value-
added eco-products e.g. bio-plastics, bio-composites, bio-fertilizers, bio-pellets, etc.)and
the generation 、of renewable energy (refer to
Figure 2 below).
While it goes without saying the biomass industry
in Malaysia has enormous untapped potentials
for commercialization given the minimum biomass
production of 168 million tones a year as -well
hundred types of biomass-related research and
development (R&D) activities undertaken by local
research institutions and universities, the full
utilization of biomass in the market is yet to be
achieved.
Among the barriers faced are:
*A lot of policies developed to facilitate the uptake
on biomass and renewable energy among SMEs
are still underway, limiting the efficiencies of
coordination among local agencies and biomass
industry in Malaysia.
*There is no reliable and clear data on the potential
of biomass in the market.
*Limited incentives and funding support are
provided to bear the high cost of initial investment.
In parallel to the need for increased utilization of
renewable resources to combat climate change,
biomass definitely has a firm position in the
national strategies to achieve sustainable
consumption and production and combat climate
change. As such, the biomass commercialization
issues is growing to be more complex and more
diverse, opening opportunities for engagement
between different industries, government agencies,
and research institutions.