The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) broke the ground of an 80 million USD bio-ethanol plant in Dung Quat economic zone, central Quang Ngai province on Sept. 6.
Construction of the plant, the largest of its kind in the central region, will last for 18 months.
Using cassava as raw material, the plant has a designed capacity of 100,000 cubic metre of ethanol per year.
Once operational, the plant will provide a cheap bio-fuel source for gasoline production, helping lessen the amount of imported petroleum and reduce carbon dioxide exhaustion to the environment, said a representative of PetroVietnam Technical Services Joint Stock Corporation (PTSC), the project’s contractor.
It will offer jobs for local people, thus helping increase their earning and contributing to hunger alleviation and poverty reduction.
At the ground-breaking ceremony, PetroVietnam Financial Joint Stock Corporation (PVFC), the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), the Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam (VCB), the Ocean Bank, the Lien Viet Bank and the central region’s Petroleum Bio-Fuel Joint Stock Company signed a credit contract worth nearly 1 trillion VND for the project.
The plant, the second of its kind being built by PetroVietnam in Vietnam, is part of the country’s bio-fuel development plan to 2015 with a vision to 2025.
Earlier, PetroVietnam kicked-off the construction of a bio-ethanol plant in northern Phu Tho province. The group plans to build the third one in southern Binh Phuoc province in 2010.
According to PetroVietnam, 47 percent of ethanol in the world is extracted from sugarcane and 53 percent from starch.
In Vietnam, ethanol is currently produced mainly by Hiep Hoa Sugar Factory, Lam Son Sugar Factory and Binh Tay Beverage Factory, which churn out 15,000-30,000 litres of ethanol per day.
