Hyundai, LG to Convert Waste of Oil Palm into Biodiesel

It’s widely acknowledged that oil palm is a complete agricultural commodity in the sense that all parts of oil palm can be utilized for any purposes. Palm kernel and palm oil uses are widely varied because they can be processed and blended to produce a vast range of products with different characteristics. Even its waste can be converted into certain products, including biodiesel. It goes without saying that a lot of businesses are interested in palm oil. Two Korean companies Hyundai and LG, for instance, are interested to produce biodiesel from waste of oil palm bunches. They are now collaborating with Tanjungpura University at Pontianak, West Kalimantan to develop it. “The two companies will construct biodiesel factories in the province,” said Rector of Tanjungpura University Thamrin Usman in Pontianak, (9/9/2018) as quoted by Kompas.com. He said, Hyundai and LG are very serious to construct factories that will convert waste of oil palm bunches into biodiesel amid the government’s effort to expand the domestic use of the fuel through its mandatory 20 percent blended biodiesel (B20) policy. “In the first step, they will do the research and feasibility studies. Tanjungpura University will do the research,” he said. The companies will invest Rp500 billion for initial investment and will provide more fund if it succeed. “At the first phase, they will build factory on 2,5 hectare land with total capacity of 150 thousand biodiesel per year. In the long term they will expand it to 25 hectare for factory with total capacity of 1,5 million per day,” Thamrin said. In this project, LG and Hyundai will provide jobs and opportunities for local people. For research only, they will actively involve 300 people from Tanjungpura University. Yoo M, a representative of the Korean companies said that they already have high technology to convert waste into environmentally friendly biodiesel. This project will also show to the world that palm oil from West Kalimantan is environmentally friendly. “This project will solve oil palm waste problem and provide raw materials for biodiesel at the same time,” Yoo said. ***