B20 fuel used more in Thailand to raise oil palm prices

BANGKOK, January 15 (TNA) - The state-run Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) will have its all passenger buses of all models in Greater Bangkok run by the B20 biodiesel as of February 15, 2019 to save its fuel cost, support local oil palm growers and help relieve the air pollution in the capital and its peripheral provinces. BMTA Acting Director Prayoon Choygeo told journalists of the update, stating that in the first-phase, 815 BMTA non-airconditioned passenger buses of the Hino and the Mitsubishi brands, have turned to use the B20 fuel as of January 15, 2019, replacing the B7 fuel used earlier, while the remaining 1,260 passenger buses of the Mitsubishi, Isuzu, Hino and Daewoo brands, both air-conditioned and non air-conditioned ones, will start to use the B20 fuel as of February 15. Prayoon acknowledged that the change complies with the Thai government's policy, implemented through the Ministries of Energy and Transport, aimed to boost the prices of oil palms to assist local growers amid the problem of oversupply of their produce currently. Besides, a test-run of some BMTA passenger buses, using the B20 fuel during October-December 2018, found that their emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) reduced by 15 per cent, when compared with CO2 emissions from the B7 fuel, and the B20 fuel is cheaper than the B7 fuel by about 3 baht a liter, which should help save the BMTA's fuel cost by about 16.5 million baht monthly or about 198 million baht yearly. "The change to use the B20 fuel by the BMTA's passenger buses will support local oil palm growers, as up to about 8.58 million liters of palm oil need to be used yearly to produce the B20 biodiesel although each bus needs an overhaul of its fuel-intake system that costs about 30,000 baht each but it is sponsored all by private partners of BMTA, while PTT Public Company Limited (PTT) has promised to sufficiently supply the B20 fuel to BMTA on the daily basis", said the acting BMTA director. (TNA)