Central Malaysia to host world's largest microalgae-based biofuel facility

摘要

A 2020-hectare site near Rompin in the southern part of the Pahang State in central Malaysia is about to become home to the world's largest commercial farm project producing microalgae for biofuel reports New York Times. Costing an estimated 1.2 billion ringgit ($383 million), Malaysian Integrated Algae Valley, as it will be known, will step up output in three phases, reaching full production over a three-year period according to Khoo Koay Hock, chief executive of Pahang Biodiesel. Hundreds of open-air freshwater ponds will be constructed covering an area of about 1,400 hectares, with the rest of the land used for infrastructure, including a research and education center. When completed, the farm could produce about 500,000 tons of dry biomass a year, with an oil yield of about 30%, equivalent to 150,000 tons of biofuel per year, said Syed Isa Syed Alwi, chief executive of Algaetech International, which is providing the technology for the project.