The director of the city Department of Science and Technology, Phan Minh Tan, said to realise the goal the department would further develop the domestic “green energy” industry.

 “We will set up three groups with different tasks, including technology, policy-making and market surveys.”

Perfecting a quality standard system to be applied to bio-energy products was also an important part of the project, he said.

The Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology’s Petrochemical and Refinery Centre is studying ways to process bio-diesel from vegetable oil waste, and is completing the final stage of the technology, Tan said.

 “This machinery has a manufacturing capacity of two tonnes of bio-diesel with high quality, while production costs are 50 percent of similar import technology,” he said.

The department has also joined with Japan’s University of Tokyo to develop a project in Cu Chi district that would produce alcohol from straw.

 “We plan to implement this project on a wide scale by 2008,” Tan said.

He also said the department would work with Pham Chi Company to manufacture bio-petrol.

Under the scheme, the company will grow sorghum plants as raw material to process the bio-petrol.

 “The department has called for the Ministries of Industry, and Science and Technology, and the Wine and Beer Corporation to assist the company in technical skills and legal procedures,” Tan said.

However, he pointed out that the green industry was new and lacked capital, materials, and a legal framework to regulate it.

The biggest problem facing the industry is the shortage of materials.

To ensure supplies of waste vegetable oil, the department must work with the Sai Gon Tourist Company to collect oil from its restaurants and hotels, he said.

 “However, the amount is irregular, and if we want to produce bio-energy from soybeans and sesame seeds we need large specialised soy and sesame cultivation areas to ensure supplies,” Tan said.

He said companies are not entering the bio-energy field because there were few incentive policies from the Government.

The city government however, has issued temporary policies to facilitate the development of the industry, Tan said.

Source: VNA