Sontirat steps up campaign for B10 biodiesel use
Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong visited a PTT petrol station in Viphavadee Soi 11 on Wednesday (January 1) to follow up on the government’s policy to promote B10 biodiesel as standard biodiesel for domestic consumption.
“The campaign has been implemented since November but the official D-Day is today: January 1, 2020,” he said. “B10 biodiesel will be an important step towards energy stability and sustainability for Thailand.”
According to Sontirat, B10 biodiesel will generate the following benefits:
➤ stabilise the price of palm oil, which was one of the ruling Phalang Pracharat Party’s promise even before the election last year;
➤ absorb two-thirds of crude palm oil in domestic stock and reduce the use of petroleum-based diesel;
➤ reduce air pollution caused by PM2.5 dust particles, especially in big cities;
➤ allow people to use higher-quality fuel at a lower price.
Thailand has been trying to switch from B7 biodiesel (diesel mixed with 7 per cent pure palm oil) to its B10 counterpart since last year. The ministry’s promotion of B10 as the standard biodiesel started on October 1 when it reduced the price of B10 to below that of B7 at Bt2/litre, and made B20 cheaper than B7 at Bt3/ litre to attract users. “By March 2020, B10 biodiesel will be available at all petrol stations nationwide,” he added.
The ministry expects that in early 2020, the use of B10 will rise to at least 7 million litres per day by over 5.3 vehicles that are B10-compatible, or roughly 50 per cent of all diesel vehicles in Thailand. “By mid-2020, total domestic usage of B10 will soar to 57 million litres per day, which should help reduce the emission of small dust particles by 15 per cent and PM2.5 by 5 per cent,” he said.