All Cosmos Bio-Tech Holding Corp (全宇生技控股) yesterday gained a technology license from the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) allowing it to apply the institute’s sugar production and purification technologies to its treatment of palm oil waste.
“The cellulosic sugar produced from biomass can be transformed into xylose, glucose and arabinose,” All Cosmos chairman Tony Peng (彭士豪) told a signing ceremony for the technology transfer in Taipei.
Glucose is one of the most widely used sugars on the market and has high business potential due to its low cost of production, Peng said.
The Malaysia-based fertilizer manufacturer plans to open a semi-commercial sugar mill in Johor State in September employing the technology to transform palm biomass, he said.
Lignocellulosic biomass left over from the extraction of palm oil poses a problem to the industry in Malaysia, as local authorities have imposed tight regulations on the disposal of such waste, while clients are also becoming more concerned about the environment, Peng said.
Malaysia is the second-largest producer of palm oil in the world after Indonesia, with the industry’s output representing 5 to 7 percent of Malaysia’s GDP, he said.
The country accounts for 39 percent of world palm oil production and 44 percent of global exports, Malaysian Palm Oil Board data showed.
Malaysia exports 9 million tonnes of palm oil per year and the industry generates up to 25 million tonnes of waste each year, Malaysian People’s Justice Party Vice President Tian Chua (蔡添強) said.
All Cosmos is estimated to handle less than 10 percent of the biomass, he said.
One threat to the industry is lobbying by European companies, which have pressured European governments to take countermeasures against palm oil, Peng said.
“They [European countries] say that [palm] oil is not clean, accusing it of causing deforestation... We are here to add a green touch to it,” Peng said, adding that palm oil is more profitable than soybean and corn oils, which are produced in Europe at higher costs.
By expanding the economy of scale in the biomass-to-sugar transformation business, All Cosmos expects to see a great increase in gross margin, he said.
The company said that it owns three fertilizer factories in Malaysia and is considering exploring the Indonesian market, where it is setting up a fertilizer factory in Sumatra to court the local palm oil industry.
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