Eppo to offer incentives to CBG producers

CBG could be used as a substitute for diesel, petrol and NGV (natural gas for vehicles), both for vehicles and cooking, said EPPO director-general Suthep Liumsirijarern.
The office will draw up a plan to promote CBG production. The plan might offer an attractive adder rate as an incentive to producers, or provide soft loans or state financial support not exceeding 10 per cent of the total value of each project. The measure is expected to be complete in 2013, when it will be forwarded for Industry Ministry approval.
EPPO has joined with the Energy Research and Development Institute (ERDI)-Nakornping at Chiang Mai University to develop CBG from animal dung and plants for interested firms in remote areas, especially in the North and Northeast.
The move is intended to solve NGV supply shortages in the provinces.
Universal Adsorbents and Chemicals Plc plans to commercially produce CBG using German technology.
Production is scheduled to commence in September with capacity of 6 tonnes per day, which is enough to serve 500 passenger vehicles or 40 large vehicles per day.
The firm has signed a contract to sell 3 tonnes per day of CBG to PTT in the initial stage for Bt12-Bt13 per kilogram.
Suthep said Germany has around 7,000 CBG production plants with combined capacity of 20,000-30,000 tonnes per day. Thailand consumes around 8,000 tonnes of NGV per day. It is hoped that in the future this could be replaced by CBG.
Kitti Jivacate, president and chief executive officer of Universal Adsorbents, said the company’s CBG plant cost Bt130 million, of which Bt15 million was supported by the Energy Saving Fund. It is the first commercial CBG plant in Thailand. It is expected to reach the break-even point within five years.
The company plans to open another 10 plants in the North and Northeast, each with production capacity of 6-9 tonnes per day, to serve the high demand there. Construction of these plants should finish in two years.