**13. Unified ASEAN bioenergy outlook**

ment of Vietnam introduced a state biofuel development program in November 2007 aiming to develop renewable biofuels from biologically derived organic resources to replace a part of fossil fuels for future State energy security and environmental protection. The targets for these programs are: to develop *100 thousand tons* of E5 and *50 thousand tons* of B5 (0.4% of mass fuel consumption of the country) by the year of 2010; 250,000 tons of ethanol and vege‐ table oils equivalent 5 *mill tons*of E5 and B5 by the year 2015; and the production of ethanol and vegetable oil will reach 1.8 *mill tons*by the year 2020. A joint project between Petrosetco Vietnam and Itochu Company Japan is constructing a bioethanol factory that would be on completion capable of producing 100 *mill liters per year*using cassava starch. The country is in the process of developing new types of biomass as raw materials for biofuels from sea known as "Kappaphycus alvarezii (Green and Brown), Gracilaria tenuistipitata". The litera‐ ture does not report any production current activities of vegitable oil in Veitnam. Projects are largely still in the developing stage under the government, save for B5 production levels

The main feedstocks for biodiesel production in Vietnam are "Basa" fish oil, used cooking oil and rubber seed oil. The potential of "Basa" for the year 2005 was estimated to be of *60,000 tones* that could produce *48,000 tons* of biodiesel. Saigon Petro and Agifish are in the processing of developing a project with a capacity of producing 10, 000 *tons per year*biodisel. There is *73,800 tons* of used oil with a potential of producing 33,000 tons of biodiesel. Saigon Petro is developing a facility to extract 2 *tons per day* biodiesel using 4−5 *tons per day* of used cooking oil. Rubber trees are planted on more than 500, 000 *ha*in 2006 and it is planned to rise to 1, 000, 000 *ha* that can produce 200, 000−300, 000 *tons* rubber fruits every year, equiv‐ alent to 17, 600−330, 000 *tons*of rubber oil which is not edible and one of important bio-re‐ source to biodiesel production. It can either be used directly by thermal cracking to hydrocarbon or in form of ethyl ester, blended with petroleum diesel. Biodiesel from ethyl ester of Vietnamese rubber seed oil according to the European standard for determination of biodiesel (E.DIN 51606), blended from 5% to 20% with petroleum diesel, can be used as a

Many projects have been carried out to develop cultivation of jatropha in different provi‐ dences of Vietnam and some of these projects are in pilot scale for production of biodiesel [87]. Nguyen [88] studied the rice husk potential of Vietnam (1995 – 2002) and noted a rise in the planted area (6,766,000 to 7,485,000 hectors); rice husk output which was assumed to be 20% of paddy increased from 4,993,000 tons to 6,813,000 tons; 30% of the rice husk was as‐ sumed to be used to generate electricity and with this assumption a rise in the supply of rice husk for generating power was increased from 923,000 tons to 1,249,000 tons. This study re‐ ports that there are 615 rice mills in the country and each mill collects rice within a radius of 20 km. The electricity generated using rice husk that feeds power to a grid can reduce the emission by 0.615 *kg of CO*<sup>2</sup> *per kWh* compared with the conventional fossil fuel. Off grid can

Rice husk and straw are the most available biomass for energy production in the Mekong Delta. Dang et al. [90] studied energy needs for this region by estimating the current and future energy demands of rural industries; identifying the type and quantity of most availa‐

sourced from fish operating at 50,000 tonnes per year [86A, 86B].

40 Sustainable Energy - Recent Studies

fuel for electric generators and car diesel motors [87].

reduce 0.8 *kg of CO*<sup>2</sup> *per kWh* [89].

ASAEN countries are the main producers of palm oil and rubber with substantial planta‐ tions of coconut and paddy fields and they have started cultivation of jatropha on large areas. ASEAN countries are located in the equatorial region of the globe that provides a con‐ stant warm temperature and humid conditions throughout the year and makes this region suitable for a variety of large areas of plantation. The region has a potential of unwanted bi‐ omass (wastes from only palm oil, sugarcane and rice excluding all others) of up to 208.68 *million tonnes per annum* that is generated from the by-products after the milling proc‐ ess. This unwanted biomass has a potential of generating electricity up to 71.47 *TWh* which was 14.37% of total residential electricity usage for all ASEAN countries in 2006; with a con‐ version efficiency of 30% and 10 *MJ k g* <sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup> biomass energy yield. There is a huge agricultural land available in Mynmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao that is still unused due to lack of sufficient funding, infrastructure and a skilled workforce. At the moment these countries are considered as undeveloped and use traditional agricultural methods for cultivation. Under the ASEAN cooperation framework, these countries can take help from other members through technology transfer and skilled manpower to modernise their agricultural sector and increase agricultural revenues. It is expected that with this cooperation the total land area of 10.74 *million hectares*, after deducting the area of plantations from total agricultural land for Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao, can be increased. If oil palm which is one of the highest yield crops is cultivated, assuming that this land is suitable for it, 664.40 *million tonnes* of extra biomass residues can be produced annually which would gen‐ erate electrical power of 220.68 *TWh* with the same assumptions as stated above. 58.74% of residential electricity usage including the earlier estimate can be generated from biomass leading to a huge reduction in carbon emission [74]. The global contribution of Asia in bio‐ fuel production is 4.6% and the ASEAN share lies in the range of less than 2% [74A].

It is desirable that in ASEAN countries waste treatment facilities should be strictly regulated and protected regarding licensing, authorization and compliance with the country's law. En‐ forcement of law to ensure the regulatory framework must be applied strictly and if necessa‐ ry existing law on waste management be amended or new laws introduced to protect and minimise environmental pollution through open burning of any type of waste including ag‐ ricultural, forest, MSW, industrial liquid waste discharges and gas exhaust. The region should concentrate on and opt for available "waste to energy" technologies to deal with all types of these wastes like agro-based industrial systems, recycling, bio-digestion, bio refiner‐ ies, bio-extraction etc. Developed countries like Malaysia and Singapore help other devel‐ oped and developing countries of this community to enhance and introduce sustainable waste management system through joint R & D projects and sharing their resources [74].

Potential and Use of Bioenergy in The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Countries – A Review

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/51917

43

Effective utilization of biomass as an energy resource is based on biomass availability, trans‐ portation distances, and the scales and locations of power mills/factories within a region. Palm oil mills use small boilers for both electricity generation and palm oil extraction proc‐ esses. The most common type of power plant used in ASEAN countries consists of a small tube boiler capable of processing 30-60 tonnes of full fruit bunches (FFB) per hour that can produce an excess heat and electricity of 23.8 *MJ per ton FFB*and 22.4 *MJ per ton FFB*, respec‐ tively. These conventional boilers should be replaced with high pressure boilers such as du‐ al fire boilers capable of burning palm oil waste as well as use of use of POME derived biogas as a supplementary fuel for efficient production of power and heat from biomass. En‐ ergy efficiency could also be improved by the adoption of high efficiency motors, high effi‐ ciency transformers and variable-speed controls in power plants. Literature states that 2−8 *MW* or 12 *MW* combined heat and power (CHP) plants are most appropriate and can generate the largest profits in Malaysia as well as throughout the ASEAN countries. Installa‐ tion of large plants requires Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) transportation over longer distances and couples with low stability of EFB supply particularly in low season. It is recommended that small power plants are installed in such a way that each power plant has a collection area for FEB within approximately a radius of 40-50 kilometres which will ensure the supply of FEB to plants and protect it if left to decay on-site due to limitations of either a plant ca‐ pacity or difficulties on transportation over long distances for large plants [43, 56]. Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand among the ASEAN countries have huge resources of biomass from the palm oil industries and these countries can help developing countries of this community to build up biomass conversion technologies by providing expertise as well as skilled man‐ power. With the close cooperation within the ASEAN community bioenergy technologies are able to penetrate resulting in production of biofuels, generation of electricity using wast‐ ed agricultural and other types of residues in the region that can compete with conventional fossil fuels more economically that could lead to sustainable energy development [94].

Forests in ASEAN are an important source of timer and other forest products, of energy for cooking and space heating for the rural population and a potential source of bioenergy. Lit‐ erature reports that these forests produce about 563.8 *million tons per year* (11.3 *EJ*)of woody biomass for the period 1990-2020 and a decrease of 1.5% in annual woody biomass was not‐ ed for this period. It was highlighted that if this trend is continued then this region of the

It is noted that highly urbanized cities in ASEAN countries generate a high percentage of organic and mixed inorganic waste (55-77%), with about 10-16% made of plastic, approxi‐ mately 4-10% of glass and about 4-12% of metal. The largest fraction of MSW in ASEAN countries is paper and cardboards constituting 28% of the waste. There is about 529, 500 *tons per day*urban MSW in ASEAN countries. Out of which approximately 50-80% is collected each day and then disposed in landfills or dumpsites. The capacity of landfills is mostly exceeded due to lack of waste management planning. In countryside waste is either thrown directly into rivers, dumped at the road side or burned in the open because of a lack of finance, land acquisition problems, lack of awareness of the environment, inadequate sol‐ id waste management, and lack of enforcement that could impose serious environmental pollution problems [74]. The amount of MSW dumped openly and/or burn is not known.

At the same time one of the most sophisticated waste treatment systems, "incineration" has successfully been used in Singapore. Malaysia has one municipal incinerator and planning for another one, Indonesia and Thailand also have one in their capital cities. Recycling is al‐ so becoming popular in this part of the world. In high income countries like Singapore ap‐ proximately 44.4% of solid waste is recycled. In the middle income countries, the percentage of waste recycled is about 12%, and it is approximately 8-11% for the rest of ASEAN [74]. If 529, 500 *tons per day* urban MSW in ASEAN countries is wisely and professionally treated as Singapore does, it has a potential of generating 271 *GWh per day* of electricity. Research and development (R &D) projects in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are investigate vermi‐ composing of solid organic waste from industrial as well as municipal origin [56].

Shi et al. [92] estimated the global potential of cellulosic ethanol from waste paper and card‐ board to be *82.9 billion litres* and reported that the substitution of gasoline use with waste paper-derived cellulosic ethanol could offer GHG saving of between 29.2% to 86.1% [92]. The introduction of a proper MSW management system in the ASEAN community could lead to a clean environment and it is this area where CDM projects can play a prominent role for sustainable development by reducing the emission of GHG of this region.

A study conducted on construction waste generation and management in Thailand claimed that on average 1.1 million tons of construction waste is generated per year and if the man‐ agement of this waste material is given attention by prompting recycling an average saving of 3.0×10<sup>5</sup> *GJ per year* could be made [93]. Researchers focused on the introduction of proper MSW management and disposal systems along with strong Government commitment in ASEAN countries which has a high potential of generating electricity from this unavoidable and ever increasing source.

It is desirable that in ASEAN countries waste treatment facilities should be strictly regulated and protected regarding licensing, authorization and compliance with the country's law. En‐ forcement of law to ensure the regulatory framework must be applied strictly and if necessa‐ ry existing law on waste management be amended or new laws introduced to protect and minimise environmental pollution through open burning of any type of waste including ag‐ ricultural, forest, MSW, industrial liquid waste discharges and gas exhaust. The region should concentrate on and opt for available "waste to energy" technologies to deal with all types of these wastes like agro-based industrial systems, recycling, bio-digestion, bio refiner‐ ies, bio-extraction etc. Developed countries like Malaysia and Singapore help other devel‐ oped and developing countries of this community to enhance and introduce sustainable waste management system through joint R & D projects and sharing their resources [74].

land for Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia and Lao, can be increased. If oil palm which is one of the highest yield crops is cultivated, assuming that this land is suitable for it, 664.40 *million tonnes* of extra biomass residues can be produced annually which would gen‐ erate electrical power of 220.68 *TWh* with the same assumptions as stated above. 58.74% of residential electricity usage including the earlier estimate can be generated from biomass leading to a huge reduction in carbon emission [74]. The global contribution of Asia in bio‐

It is noted that highly urbanized cities in ASEAN countries generate a high percentage of organic and mixed inorganic waste (55-77%), with about 10-16% made of plastic, approxi‐ mately 4-10% of glass and about 4-12% of metal. The largest fraction of MSW in ASEAN countries is paper and cardboards constituting 28% of the waste. There is about 529, 500 *tons per day*urban MSW in ASEAN countries. Out of which approximately 50-80% is collected each day and then disposed in landfills or dumpsites. The capacity of landfills is mostly exceeded due to lack of waste management planning. In countryside waste is either thrown directly into rivers, dumped at the road side or burned in the open because of a lack of finance, land acquisition problems, lack of awareness of the environment, inadequate sol‐ id waste management, and lack of enforcement that could impose serious environmental pollution problems [74]. The amount of MSW dumped openly and/or burn is not known.

At the same time one of the most sophisticated waste treatment systems, "incineration" has successfully been used in Singapore. Malaysia has one municipal incinerator and planning for another one, Indonesia and Thailand also have one in their capital cities. Recycling is al‐ so becoming popular in this part of the world. In high income countries like Singapore ap‐ proximately 44.4% of solid waste is recycled. In the middle income countries, the percentage of waste recycled is about 12%, and it is approximately 8-11% for the rest of ASEAN [74]. If 529, 500 *tons per day* urban MSW in ASEAN countries is wisely and professionally treated as Singapore does, it has a potential of generating 271 *GWh per day* of electricity. Research and development (R &D) projects in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are investigate vermi‐

composing of solid organic waste from industrial as well as municipal origin [56].

role for sustainable development by reducing the emission of GHG of this region.

and ever increasing source.

42 Sustainable Energy - Recent Studies

Shi et al. [92] estimated the global potential of cellulosic ethanol from waste paper and card‐ board to be *82.9 billion litres* and reported that the substitution of gasoline use with waste paper-derived cellulosic ethanol could offer GHG saving of between 29.2% to 86.1% [92]. The introduction of a proper MSW management system in the ASEAN community could lead to a clean environment and it is this area where CDM projects can play a prominent

A study conducted on construction waste generation and management in Thailand claimed that on average 1.1 million tons of construction waste is generated per year and if the man‐ agement of this waste material is given attention by prompting recycling an average saving of 3.0×10<sup>5</sup> *GJ per year* could be made [93]. Researchers focused on the introduction of proper MSW management and disposal systems along with strong Government commitment in ASEAN countries which has a high potential of generating electricity from this unavoidable

fuel production is 4.6% and the ASEAN share lies in the range of less than 2% [74A].

Effective utilization of biomass as an energy resource is based on biomass availability, trans‐ portation distances, and the scales and locations of power mills/factories within a region. Palm oil mills use small boilers for both electricity generation and palm oil extraction proc‐ esses. The most common type of power plant used in ASEAN countries consists of a small tube boiler capable of processing 30-60 tonnes of full fruit bunches (FFB) per hour that can produce an excess heat and electricity of 23.8 *MJ per ton FFB*and 22.4 *MJ per ton FFB*, respec‐ tively. These conventional boilers should be replaced with high pressure boilers such as du‐ al fire boilers capable of burning palm oil waste as well as use of use of POME derived biogas as a supplementary fuel for efficient production of power and heat from biomass. En‐ ergy efficiency could also be improved by the adoption of high efficiency motors, high effi‐ ciency transformers and variable-speed controls in power plants. Literature states that 2−8 *MW* or 12 *MW* combined heat and power (CHP) plants are most appropriate and can generate the largest profits in Malaysia as well as throughout the ASEAN countries. Installa‐ tion of large plants requires Empty Fruit Bunches (EFB) transportation over longer distances and couples with low stability of EFB supply particularly in low season. It is recommended that small power plants are installed in such a way that each power plant has a collection area for FEB within approximately a radius of 40-50 kilometres which will ensure the supply of FEB to plants and protect it if left to decay on-site due to limitations of either a plant ca‐ pacity or difficulties on transportation over long distances for large plants [43, 56]. Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand among the ASEAN countries have huge resources of biomass from the palm oil industries and these countries can help developing countries of this community to build up biomass conversion technologies by providing expertise as well as skilled man‐ power. With the close cooperation within the ASEAN community bioenergy technologies are able to penetrate resulting in production of biofuels, generation of electricity using wast‐ ed agricultural and other types of residues in the region that can compete with conventional fossil fuels more economically that could lead to sustainable energy development [94].

Forests in ASEAN are an important source of timer and other forest products, of energy for cooking and space heating for the rural population and a potential source of bioenergy. Lit‐ erature reports that these forests produce about 563.8 *million tons per year* (11.3 *EJ*)of woody biomass for the period 1990-2020 and a decrease of 1.5% in annual woody biomass was not‐ ed for this period. It was highlighted that if this trend is continued then this region of the world could face a shortage of woody biomass as well as its ecosystem functioning can be adversely affected leading to the risk of its sustainable development. The region has strong‐ ly reacted and enforced laws against deforestation and forest degradation. Rehabilitation and plantation programs have been initiated resulting in the recovery of about 0.1% of the 2.4 million ha deforested land. It is claimed that use of woody biomass to replace fossil fuel for energy generation could prevent carbon emission of about 169.0−281.7 *TgC per year*, where one tetragram carbon (TgC) is one million tons of carbon, between 1990 and 2020 [95]. A case study of household energy demand of a rural community and its electrification in Lao People's Democratic Republic was conducted. Prior to electrification 99% of the primary energy demand was met with firewood. Only 75% of villages used commercial lighting fuels while 25% have no access to this fuel and therefore are not engaged with entrepreneurial activities. These families were wasting thousands of hours of productive time each year which could be used to improve their families' living conditions through education and saf‐ er time-saving work if they could have access of about three hours of lighting per day indi‐ cating the importance of energy and its impact on the lives of rural people. A proper management of forests could solve these very simple problems of the rural communities and enhance their productivity [96].

use of suitable catalysts to catalyze the transesterification reaction for extraction of cooking oil/biofuels from biomass. Edric et al. [99-100] claimed that conversion of biomass into bio‐ fuel/cooking oil and apparent bulk reaction rate are insensitive to temperature but depend‐ ent on mass transfer rate and their results reveal that overall reactor performance may be further improved by increasing the porosity of the biomass. It is desirable to investigate fur‐ ther how to improve the catalyst and elucidate the reaction mechanism to increase the quali‐

Potential and Use of Bioenergy in The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Countries – A Review

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/51917

45

A lot of interest in investing in biomass power in ASEAN countries especially in Malaysia and Thailand has been reported under carbon finance opportunities through CDM projects. It has been reported that among the registered CDM projects for ASEAN countries 41% are on biomass power generation. The majority of the registered CDM projects are small scale under 10MW that are often located in remote, off-grid areas in countries with relatively low electrification rates. A number projects under carbon finance are being planned in different ASEAN countries and feasibility studies are underway to investigate how much reduction

The results presented in the literature on the development of bioenegy in ASEAN and de‐ velopment of CDM projects in this part of the world reveal that this region of the globe could lead the world in bioenergy with a unified community where all member countries concentrate on collective resources of biomass; member countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and The Philippines) share technological expertise with developing member coun‐ tries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam). Developed countries could provide training to cater a skilled workforce for the developing community and centralized research and de‐ velopment centres for biomass and bioenergy technologies. Singapore, and Malaysia could initiate in setting up bio-refineries and MSW treatment (waster-to-energy) plants; and re‐ gional collaboration on development and utilization of unified bioenergy resources. With these collective and integrated efforts this region would not only become energy sufficient using bioenergy resources but lead the world in this area. Lim and Lee [94] proposed a dia‐ mond framework for ASEAN biomass bioenergy cooperation that provides an ideal unified framework for this community to work together and this would lead the ASEAN countries towards leadership in bioenergy where the developing members as well as developed ones

The author acknowledge the useful discussion with Dr. Lim Chee Ming and grateful to Dr. M. G. Blundell, Faculty of Science, University of Brunei Darussalam for providing valuable

ty of biofuels extracted from biomass.

**14. Conclusion**

**Acknowledgements**

comments on the manuscript.

in GHG could be made with the proposed projects [48, 101-103].

are to play their roles to achieve energy as well as social sustainability.

Biofuels are growing steadily in ASEAN countries which are extracted from sugarcane and cassava; 75% of the current biethanol production in Thailand is from cassava. Thailand is the largest producer of bioethanol with517 *Ml per year*, followed by Philippines (116 *Ml per year*) Indonesia (77 *Ml per year*) and Singapore (34 *Ml per year*). The international energy agency (IEA) stated that Thailand will continue to lead ethanol production in ASEAN countries for the next three years to achieve an expected annual production of 1276 *Ml* in 2012 while In‐ donesia and Philippines production will further increase to 355 *Ml* and 332 *Ml*, respectively in 2012. Malaysia and Vietnam do not produce ethanol for use in the transport sector [48 & 97]. Palm oil is the main feedstock for biodiesel production in this region of the world with an average biodiesel yield in the range of 4, 000−4, 700 *l per ha* (FAO 2008). Literature states that Thailand led in the production of biodiesel in the year 2009 with a quantity of 625 *Ml* while Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines produced 243 *Ml*, 203 *Ml* and 96 *Ml* respec‐ tively, whereas Singapore had a comparatively small output of 48 *Ml*. A steady increase in the production of biodiesel for the next three years is predicted led by Thailand with an an‐ nual output of 955 *Ml* in 2012, followed by Singapore with an expected increase in produc‐ tion by almost twentyfold to 946 *Ml per year*. This increase is due to a large plant which is currently under construction capable of increasing the country's capacity by900 *Ml per year*. The expected increase of biodiesel in Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippines lies in the range of *25-60%* [49, 97]*.*

There is a huge potential for increasing the power efficiency of energy plants. This can be done by increasing steam parameters and installed power in cogeneration plants and reduc‐ ing consumption in process. Biogas can be generated from the anaerobic treatment of the liquid effluents of the process and its conversion into electricity using internal combustion engines or micro-turbines. The extraction methodologies used to extract cooking oil and bio‐ fuels from biomass could be modified to increase the efficiency [98]. This can be done with use of suitable catalysts to catalyze the transesterification reaction for extraction of cooking oil/biofuels from biomass. Edric et al. [99-100] claimed that conversion of biomass into bio‐ fuel/cooking oil and apparent bulk reaction rate are insensitive to temperature but depend‐ ent on mass transfer rate and their results reveal that overall reactor performance may be further improved by increasing the porosity of the biomass. It is desirable to investigate fur‐ ther how to improve the catalyst and elucidate the reaction mechanism to increase the quali‐ ty of biofuels extracted from biomass.

A lot of interest in investing in biomass power in ASEAN countries especially in Malaysia and Thailand has been reported under carbon finance opportunities through CDM projects. It has been reported that among the registered CDM projects for ASEAN countries 41% are on biomass power generation. The majority of the registered CDM projects are small scale under 10MW that are often located in remote, off-grid areas in countries with relatively low electrification rates. A number projects under carbon finance are being planned in different ASEAN countries and feasibility studies are underway to investigate how much reduction in GHG could be made with the proposed projects [48, 101-103].
