1 week Ago By The Borneo Post
Gan (left) and Tan (right) shake hands, witnessed by the board members and management teams of POIC and Legenda. KOTA KINABALU (Dec 13): Sabah’s vision to tap into the billion-ringgit waste-to-wealth industry potentials in oil palm biomass is set for a huge take-off at the POIC Lahad Datu industrial park. This follows the signing of a sale and purchase agreement for a 19.
5-acre land at POIC Lahad Datu for the production of sustainable aviation fuel, biodiesel, and carbon-based products such as carbon black, activated carbon and biochar. (Carbon black – derived from partially combusting oil palm waste. It is used as pigments and colourants in rubber products, such as tyres.
Activated carbon is used to filter contaminants in air and water. It has also many pharmaceutical applications. Biochar is made by burning biomass through pyrolysis.
It is mainly used in agriculture to restore soil health, raise yield, remediating polluted soil.) Sabah-based Legenda Biomass Sdn Bhd, which has a sister company operating a waste management and recovery operations at POIC Lahad Datu, seeks to invest RM400 million leading to a comprehensive utilisation of the estimated 20 million metric tonnes of biomass generated mainly by about 124 oil palm mills spread all over Sabah. From oil palm plantations to oil palm processing mills, the industry is known for producing biomass in the form of trunks (when old trees are fell for replanting, fronds (cut in the process of harvesting oil palm fruits), empty fruit bunches (EFB), when fresh fruit bunches (FFBs) are stripped of their fruits, mesocarp fibres (waste left after oil is squeezed, and palm kernel shells (PKS) are hard shells left after the oil palm kernels are squeezed off their oil.
Mills also produced POME (palm oi mill effluent) which has nutrients, residue oil but emits harmful methane. Although the potential of oil palm biomass is well-established, its full utilization remains elusive. Palm kernel shells (PKS), with their high combustibility, are being exported for green power generation in Thailand and Japan, and some local mills use PKS for energy.
There are also limited applications for empty fruit bunches (EFB) and fibers, as well as power generation through methane capture. However, overall biomass utilization remains relatively low. Sabah’s adoption of a the Sabah Biomass Policy and the imposition of 7.
5% export tax on biomass are expected to have a major bearing on sentiments and direction of the biomass industry going forward. The development of biomass industry in Sabah has been hampered mainly by supply chain challenges although its economic potentials were recognised since the launch of the National Biomass Policy in 2011. Legenda Biomass’s latest ventures are expected to catalyse an uptake in port operations at POIC Lahad Datu as most of its products are for the export market.
POIC Lahad Datu is serviced by a container terminal, a liquid bulk terminal, dry bulk terminal and a barge berth. “Aside from taking today’s signing as a statement of confidence in POIC Lahad Datu, we see Legenda’s investment in biomass utilisation as a potential game-changer because it represents a major pivot in oil palm value chain in Sabah,” said Datuk Fredian Gan, the Group CEO of POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd who signed the sales and purchase agreement on behalf of the state-owned company, POIC yesterday. Datuk Tan Pek Chian, the Managing Director of Legenda Biomass, signed on behalf of his company.
The signing held at the POIC Sabah office here was witnessed by POIC Sabah chairman Datuk Seri Panglima Yong Teck Lee and members of the Board. “Today marks a significant milestone for POIC, as several key agreements are being signed, paving the way for exciting developments ahead,” said Yong. Tan whose Bumimas business group has waste management-related operations in Kota Kinabalu, Labuan and Lahad Datu, stressed his company’s desire to see wider compliance of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) concept.
“We hope that our biomass centre at POIC Lahad Datu will provide a one-stop solution for biomass downstream processing, and hopefully our entry will attract more investment to POIC Lahad Datu,” he said..
