Team Leader:

• Prof.Menandro N. Acda (University of the Philippines Los Banos)
• Prof.Suzana Yusup (Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia

Team Member:

• Dr. Bridgid Lai Fui Chin (Curtin University Malaysia)
• Dr. Pornkamol Unrean (National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC))
• Dr. Elisabeth Rianawati (Resilience Development Initiative (RDI))

Participants:

Resilience Development Initiative (Indonesia), University of the Philippines Los Banos (the Philippines), Universiti Teknologi Petronas (Malaysia), Curtin University Malaysia (Malaysia), National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC) (Thailand)

Location: ASEAN Countries

In recent years, the threat of climate change and emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) from the use of fossil fuel have resulted in worldwide interest in using biomass as feedstock to produce heat and electricity. The ASEAN countries generates millions of cubic meters of agricultural waste products annually (e.g. rice husks, corn stover, coffee husks, sugarcane bagasse, etc.) that can potentially be tapped for bioenergy production. This large amount of residual biomass is widely available and can be converted to heat and power for agro-industrial processes. An abundant source of biomass that can be used for the production of renewable energy is waste materials from oil palm processing. The oil palm is intensively cultivated in millions of hectares of land across Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and parts of the Philippines contributing significantly to the economies of these ASEAN countries. Elisabeth Rianawati (RDI Director) along with four research members from the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand have successfully secured a grant to conduct a research project that aim to investigate the use of oil palm waste materials as feedstock in the production of renewable energy. RDI is responsible to conduct study on policy analysis to address constrains in implementing biofuel as one of the main energy resources in Southeast Asia. This study will be conducted to investigate the current status of the sustainability of power generation from oil palm biomass in ASEAN countries so that any challenges can be identified and serve as the key factors for the government’s. Consideration in filling the gaps in the existing policy system. Data will be collected for evaluating the sustainability of oil palm biomass renewable energy in the ASEAN countries, such as biofuel policy, global energy scenario, potential of biofuel as a renewable energy source, and target of the ASEAN countries. The use of different sources from three different countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand) added to give the different perspectives.