The world in currently in energy complexities due to the war in the Gulf Region. What has been business as usual nowadays in the fuel industry, has turned into everyday worries in several countries heavily relying on crude oil import, driving the price up not only for petroleum products, but also throughout the chain of commerce. In our country, work from home scheme has been activated again, legacy of the Covid-era, in order to reduce the usage of energy and electricity nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The narrative of renewable energy in Malaysia and the broader ASIAN region has shifted too. Now is not the time to just view renewables such as solar, wind and biofuels as means to fulfil the climate commitments and net-zero targets, but towards energy security in the real sense. As commonly happened in times of increasing petroleum-based fuels, biodiesel has again, become a centerpiece, a practical substitution of imported diesel for hard-to-electrify sectors, specifically heavy transportations that carries our daily necessities and aviation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It should be noted that biodiesel is not straight vegetable oil or palm oil in Malaysia case, but need to be converted through a process called transesterification, becoming palm oil methyl esters (POME) or its popular name \u201cBiodiesel\u201d. Biodiesel is normally used in blends with conventional fossil-based diesel in normal diesel engines without any modifications. Currently, Malaysia mandated B10 biodiesel for transportation nationwide, with a B20 mandate in Labuan, Langkawi, and Sarawak except Bintulu. B10 and B20 refer to diesel fuel blends containing 10% and 20% biodiesel mixed with conventional diesel, respectively. The urgency of this transition could be seen by the recent move by Indonesian government to move into B50 planned rollout nationally by July 2026 and the recent announcement by the Malaysian Economic Minister to increase the biodiesel blend from B10 to B15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, significant bottlenecks remain especially when quoting Putrajaya\u2019s analysis that it will take up to 18 months to recover from the ongoing global energy crisis. While the country is operationally viable at B10 nationally, higher blend of B20 could only be access in certain areas. To secure our energy supply, we must overcome the logistical challenge to rollout at least B30 national mandate, by the end of the year 2026. In order to be able to do this, a \u201cbankable demand\u201d must be created through making it compulsory to all government diesel fleet including buses and waste trucks by local authorities (PBTs) and contractors to use B20 immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While vast of our green country in covered by palm oil plantations, relying heavily on a single commodity as feedstock which is also edible, may lead to \u201cFood versus Fuel\u201d dilemma. Our research with Universiti Malaya has long focused on various locally available non-edible seed oils (Leucaena leucocephala<\/em>, Brucea javanica<\/em>, Reutealis trisperma<\/em>) as an alternative, but the immediate answer lies in our waste. To build true resilience in the near future, Malaysia must look into waste as the alternative feedstock. In a short period of time, we must aggressively increase collection of waste frying oils. Opportunistic companies that are now profiting under the disguise of \u201cgreen\u201d collection by exporting local waste cooking oil to countries with established waste-based feedstock industries must be regulated. This waste feedstock is highly sought after in the international market but we are just exporting our energy security deposits for short term monetary gains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To solve this, we must implement a regulatory framework that prioritizes our domestic needs. This must include the mandatory registration of waste cooking oil for large-scale food service providers and the rollout of household incentive schemes through local authorities (PBTs), perhaps also at the mosques and petrol stations. I still remember when I was in Kyoto, Japan where I lived for 7 years, in our neighbourhood of Takano Shimizu-chou, there is a volunteer resident\u2019s house that gave us free oil tin can for us to put our waste frying oils in. Once we returned it to that house, we will receive discount vouchers to be used at local grocery stores around us. The oil will, then, be converted for use as biodiesel in a refinery in South Kyoto, and used for all the buses and garbage trucks around town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is not just about environmentalism but it is the next phase of industrial scaling agenda. Next, we must move beyond conventional biodiesel into Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and Hydro-treated Vegetable Oil (HVO). If we are serious to get there, we must fund localized research and provide commercial conversion support to shorten the time it takes for these facilities to become operational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, we should also replicate the success of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) ground service in implementing B20 to all ports, airports, and logistic hubs in the country. However, we must proceed with caution. Scaling up without strict ethics, feedstock traceability, and sustainability certification such as MSPO will only weaken our export prospects in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Malaysia does not need to start from zero, but we need to start realizing the “invisible” waste resources that are readily available around us. By securing our domestic feedstock and focusing on high-value processing, we can ensure that our energy transition is both economically smart and strategically secure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The world in currently in energy complexities due to the war in the Gulf Region. What has been business as usual nowadays in the fuel industry, has turned into everyday worries in several countries heavily relying on crude oil import, driving the price up not only for petroleum products, but also throughout the chain of commerce. In our country, work from home scheme has been activated again, legacy of the Covid-era, in order to reduce the usage of energy and electricity nationwide. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_analytify_skip_tracking":false,"_wpzoom_pinterest_image_url":"","_wpzoom_pinterest_hidden_image":"0","_wpzoom_pinterest_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[225],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-225","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81956,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81955\/revisions\/81956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ikim.gov.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}