Development of biofuel and biomaterial production technologies using biomass resources in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asian countries are estimated to have successive economic growth, which due to their large population has a great impact on the world’s energy situation and the environment. On the other hand, most of them possess abundant renewable biomass resources. Japan has been accumulating many technologies in this field and therefore can contribute to the development of sustainable biomass utilization in Southeast Asian countries through collaborative research.
This project deals with the following primary themes:

1. Development of efficient bioethanol using tropical crops residues, such as cassava or sugarcane bagasse residues 
2. Development of efficient bioethanol and bioplastic production technologies using waste old oil palm trunks (Fig. 1)

Fig. 3 Ethanol production from old oil palm trunks
Felled oil palm trunks (above 2 photos) contained large quantity of sap (below 2 photos). This sap with high glucose content can be used for ethanol fermentation.

For further details log on website :
http://www.jircas.affrc.go.jp/english/program/proB_5.html