The federal government is delaying its B20 biodiesel mandate by six months, with the gas now anticipated to roll out nationwide in early 2022. The programme was launched in February final yr, with Langkawi and Labuan the primary places to implement its use. It was additionally introduced then that B20 can be totally out there throughout Malaysia by June 2021.
The delay was revealed by plantation industries and commodities ministry secretary-general Ravi Muthayah. Talking to Bernama, he stated that the revision to the timeline was to provide precedence to the federal government’s put up Covid-19 financial restoration plan, which is extra essential. “We now have restricted sources and should determine priorities,” he instructed the nationwide information company.
Responding to criticism that the implementation of its biodiesel programme was perpetually delayed, Ravi stated that this was not so. “We now have applied the B10 biodiesel for the transportation sector and B7 for the business since 2019. It’s not proper to say Malaysia has delayed the implementation of the biodiesel programme,” he defined.
“We now have applied the B20 programme in Langkawi and Labuan as effectively, and subsequent we are going to proceed to Sarawak and Sabah, as soon as now we have upgraded the depots,” he added.
The brand new gas – which consists of 20% palm methyl ester and 80% common diesel – will finally exchange B10 biodiesel at over 3,400 stations nationwide, besides within the Cameron and Genting Highlands in Pahang and Kundasang in Sabah, the place B7 biodiesel will proceed for use. Retailers may even proceed to supply B7 Euro 5 diesel at chosen stations.
The revision to the deployment of B20 may additionally alter the timelines for the deliberate implementation of B30 biodiesel, which has been focused for a 2025 introduction. The push for B30 biodiesel will additional increase the usage of palm oil, of which Malaysia is among the many high producers on this planet.
In associated biodiesel developments across the area, Indonesia, which is the opposite nation within the high two palm oil producer listing, says its plan to roll out a B40 mandate might be delayed past the tip of 2022 on account of the pandemic.
Lab checks are nonetheless ongoing and are anticipated to be accomplished someday within the first half of this yr, with street testing to comply with. It stays to be seen if compatibility with engines can be a difficulty – the Indonesian automotive business believes that 30% is the utmost mixing that can be utilized.
