Sustainable Research Collaboration to Benefit Malaysia’s Palm Biomass

SEMENYIH, November 13, 2014 ­– With a view to contributing to the sustainable development of the nation’s biomass sector, a signing ceremony recently took place to commemorate a successful triple-helix collaboration across academia, industry and Government.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC), Eureka Synergy Sdn Bhd and Cenergi SEA Sdn Bhd on research and development for integrated waste renewal technologies and water recycling systems. Concurrently, a contract research agreement worth RM1.65 million was signed between Nottingham MyResearch Sdn Bhd and Havys Oil Mill Sdn Bhd on palm oil mill related research and development initiatives.

Professor Graham Kendall, Chief Executive Officer of Nottingham MyResearch Sdn Bhd, said, “MyResearch is very proud to sign this contract, which is our largest contract to date. We already have a long history of collaborative work with Havys and this further strengthens our excellent relationship.”

TYT Tun Datuk Seri Utama Mohd Khalil bin Yaakob, Yang Di-Pertua Negeri Melaka was present for the signing ceremony as well as to witness the launch of the Centre For Sustainable Palm Oil Research (CSPOR) at UNMC. CSPOR is a multidisciplinary research centre which focuses on palm oil research, from plantation to waste treatment. The vision of this research centre is to be a renowned and relevant industrial hub for sustainable palm oil research.

According to the National Biomass Strategy (NBS) 2020, Malaysia had 83 million dry tonnes of palm biomass in 2012 with an estimated value of RM24.9 billion. This is expected to increase to approximately 100 million dry tonnes by 2020. By combining resources, know-how and capabilities, this joint venture can fully undertake projects large and small to recover and optimize Malaysia’s palm oil waste value.

Dr David Lim, Managing Director of Eureka Synergy Sdn Bhd, said “This collaboration certainly marks a milestone for sustainable palm oil research, particularly palm biomass. Malaysia’s Government has set a national target to reduce 40% of CO2 emissions by 2020. As a matter of fact, the Department of Environment (DOE) has commenced enforcing the mandate for proper waste disposal and treatment for all of Malaysia’s 400 palm oil mills. Hence this is an opportune time for the collaboration to help individual palm oil mills to meet the DOE’s regulatory parameters for appropriate waste treatment.”

Datuk Michael Lim, Managing Director of Havys Oil Mill Sdn Bhd, added, “With the knowledge and expertise of the parties involved in this collaboration, we aim to develop the means to convert renewable energy through various strategies which will subsequently benefit the nation. From a national perspective, the implementation of more biomass and biogas projects will ultimately recover and prevent millions of tonnes of waste from polluting the environment.”

About The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
Nottingham is ranked within the top 1 % of all universities worldwide and placed 77th in the QS world University Rankings 2013/14. Placed 7th in the UK for research power by the latest Research Assessment Exercise, Nottingham is a major research institution which delivers work of international significance.

In 2000, we became first British University to set up a campus both outside UK, in Malaysia and China, earning The University of Nottingham the Queen’s Award for industry (International Trade) 2006. The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC) has 5000 students from 70 countries across the globe and has gained a reputation for world class research and teaching in arts, engineering, science and social science.

About Nottingham MyResearch Sdn Bhd
Nottingham MyResearch is a R&D status company approved by MIDA. The company is a fully owned subsidiary of The University of Nottingham in Malaysia. MyResearch engages with business to provide an R&D service, which can be accessed in a tax efficient way and is able to call upon expertise from across the three University of Nottingham Campuses (Malaysia, China and the UK).

About Havys Oil Mill Sdn Bhd
Havys Oil Mill Sdn Bhd (HOM) was founded by Dato Lim Kim Eng and his family in year 1978. The main business of HOM covers from plantation of oil palm to producing crude palm oil (CPO) from fresh fruit bunches.  The first palm oil mill facility was established at Semenyih, Selangor with production capacity of 30 t/h.  In year 1999, Dato Micheal Lim and brothers took over the business of HOM.  Due to the development at Semenyih, HOM has decided to move and expense the processing facility as well as plantation to Mukim Bera, Pahang. The new 60 t/h processing facility was constructed in 2003 and in operation in 2004.  Viewing the importance of palm-based biomass, HOM has collaborated with various parties to established biomass recovery projects. These include a 2 MWh biogas plant, 24,000 MT per year of biofertiliser plant and 4,000 MT per year of dried long fibre plant.

About Eureka Synergy Sdn Bhd
The main motion of Eureka Synergy Sdn Bhd is to develop and apply green technologies to achieve zero waste discharge. Throughout the years of experience, we have developed various technologies for zero waste management system, specifically in the palm oil industry. We deliver sustainable technologies to convert waste / by products into value-added products and green energy.

In order to ensure continuous development in our commercial operation and be prominent in the industry, we have close research collaborations with research centres and universities such as The University of Nottingham (Malaysia Campus).  We continuously research and develop green technologies that can be implemented in the industry to achieve zero waste discharge. We aim to work closely with our customers, our partners and policymakers to reach efficient and sustainable utilisation of industrial waste for a better environment.

About Cenergi SEA Sdn Bhd
Cenergi SEA Sdn Bhd is a subsidiary of Khazanah Nasional Berhad.

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