Malaysia - Biomass to Energy

The biomass industry represents several different industries brought together by the utilization of renewable organic matters including timber waste, oil palm waste, rice husk; coconut trunk fibers, municipal waste, sugar cane waste, etc. These organic materials have the potential to be used in the manufacturing of value-added eco-products (e.g. bio-plastics, bio-composites, bio-fertilizers, bio-pellets, etc.) and the generation of renewable energy.

Biomass industry in Malaysia has enormous untapped potentials for commercialization given the minimum biomass production of 168 million tones a year as -well hundred types of biomass-related research and development (R&D) activities undertaken by local research institutions and universities, the full utilization of biomass in the market is yet to be achieved. Among the barriers faced are:

• A lot of policies developed to facilitate the uptake on biomass and renewable energy among SMEs are still underway, limiting the efficiencies of coordination among local agencies and biomass industry in Malaysia
• There is no reliable and clear data on the potential of biomass in the market
• Limited incentives and funding support are provided to bear the high cost of initial investment in parallel to the need for increased utilization of renewable resources to combat climate change, biomass definitely has a firm position in the national strategies to achieve sustainable consumption and production and combat climate change. As such, the biomass commercialization issues is growing to be more complex and more diverse, opening opportunities for engagement between different industries, government agencies, and research institutions.