Some businesses in the Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta are working on restoring biodiesel production as the domestic market struggles against rapid increases in petrol prices; however, they need the Government’s support.
Biodiesel fuel was researched and produced successfully by domestic enterprises in the Mekong region in 2004. Compared to diesel petroleum, biodiesel provides a great advantage for diesel engines.
In 2006, Minh Tu Ltd Co, located in the O Mon District of Can Tho City, researched and successfully manufactured biodiesel fuel. The biodiesel’s price was cheaper than mineral oil, its exhaust fumes were reduced by 40 per cent and it didn’t harm automobile engines.
The company also invested in building a biodiesel-production factory and signed contracts with domestic partners and a Cambodian company to supply a total of 2 million litres of biodiesel per year.
An Giang Seafood Import-Export Joint Stock Company, Agifish, had another large biodiesel producer in the region that provided oil for most provincial hollow-brick factories.
Early 2006, Agifish signed a memorandum of understanding with Saigon Petrol to co-operate in biodiesel production made from tra catfish fat.
Recently, in the Mekong region, the price of catfish fat was at times higher than the price of other fish still used as main materials for biodiesel production.
This was because many local enterprises were competing with one another to purchase catfish fat for export.
The price of catfish fat went up to VND16,000 per kilogramme, double its regular cost.
A large volume of catfish fat was exported for bio-oil production, so it was good to hear that domestic enterprises were restoring biodiesel production from the fat, according to local breeders.
Director of the Minh Tu Ltd Co Trinh Minh Tu said that the demand for biodiesel fuel was increasing in Can Tho City, up to 250,000 litres per day. At present, the price of a litre of biodiesel was VND300 cheaper than mineral oil.
He said that the Mekong market alone consumed 5 million litres of diesel a day, and if biodiesel replaced diesel in daily life and production, it would produce the desired economic efficiency.
He also planned to expand investments in the future. Biodiesel would be an indispensable choice for most Vietnamese people if the Government did not subsidise petrol prices, he said.
However, he admitted that his company as well as domestic biodiesel producers were facing difficult procedures and legal corridors.
The Minh Tu Ltd Co had to refuse some orders because there was no legal corridor set up in the country to put biodiesel into circulation.
Vietnam did not have documents regulating biodiesel quality, which was obstructing biodiesel producers in their development, said Tu.
A draft of an official document on biodiesel quality standards was set up one year ago by the General Department of Quality Measurements, but it was still "on the table".
Biodiesel in Vietnam was used mainly according to the recipe: 20 per cent biodiesel and 80 per cent regular diesel.
Tu affirmed the proportion could be 50/50. A complete replacement of mineral oil with biodiesel has become popular in developed countries.
Director of Agifish Ngo Phuoc Hau said that domestic biodiesel producers had not yet received the State’s assistance, while many countries in the world had encouraged biodiesel production and established developmental strategies.
In European countries and the US, biodiesel producers had always received subsidised prices and import tax exemption, Trinh Minh Tu said, while domestic enterprises were burdened with tax levels.
Another difficulty was the price and supply of catfish fat.
Minh Tu Ltd Co had stable resources of 50 tonnes of catfish fat per day that it had purchased through local agencies.
The company had also sought out the fruit oil of a tropical tree, the Jatropha, that could replace catfish fat. It set up a 10ha area in An Giang Province and began producing biodiesel from the fruit oil. (Source: Viet Nam News)