USA: Palm Oil Biodiesel Not an Advanced Biofuel, says EPA
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Wednesday, 01 February 2012 |
The Environmental Protection Agency has ruled that palm oil will not quality as a feedstock for advanced biofuels. If finalised, the ruling will mean that palm oil producers will be unable to break U.S. markets to compete with soyoil and canola feedstock providers.
The agency said that, where palm oil was converted into biofuels in Indonesia and Malaysia, the resulting fuel achieved an emissions reduction of 17%. However, this fell short of the 20% requirement to enter the U.S. market.
The agency has invited public comment on its findings, setting a deadline of February 27 for submissions. M.R. Chandran, a consultant to several Malaysian palm oil firms, said that the industry would likely respond to the findings. "The Americans appear to be moving forwards with land use change calculations while the European Union says there are many scientific uncertainties," said Chandran. "The Malaysian Palm Oil Board is formulating a response to this development with its own calculations on carbon emissions," he added.
PetrolWorld 01022012
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