Thailand
Thailand was the first country to launch biodiesel as a national program on July 10, 2001. It was reported that the work was initiated by the Royal Chitralada Project, a royal -sponsored project to help rural farmers . International co-operation among ASEAN country was also starting by the Renewable Energy Institute of Thailand (Dr. Samai Jai-In) and Asia-Pacific Roundtable for Sustainable consumption and Production (Dr. Olivia Castillo, ). The primary aims of the project in Thailand are:
- an alternative output for excess agricultural produce
- substituting diesel imports
In 2007, several biodiesel plants are operating in Thailand using the excess palm oil / palm stearin and in some cases, waste vegetable oil as raw materials. The production capacity is about 1 million litre/day and should reach 2 million litre by early 2008. About 400 petrol stations are now distributing B5 (5% biodiesel with 95% diesel) in Chiangmai and Bangkok. The national biodiesel standard has been developed based on the European standard. The target of the Government is to mandate B2 by 2 April 2008 and to increase to B5 by 2011 which will require almost 4 Million litres/day of biodiesel .
The raw material will most likely come from palm oil, coconut oil, Jatropha Curcas Linn, and tallow. Several pilot plants are now operating such as the Royal Chitralada Projects, Rajabiodiesel in Surattani, Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency, Royal Naval Dockyard, MTEC, and Tistr .
Read more about this topic: Biodiesel By Region