MITSUI ENGINEERING MAY INVEST UP TO US$85.29 MLN IN BIO-ETHANOL PLANT

By Saraswathi Muniappan

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 12 (Bernama) -- Japan's Mitsui Engineering Shipbuilding is
likely to invest up to RM290 million (US$85.29 million) in a bio-ethanol plant
in Malaysia.

"It will first build a pilot plant, which will cost about RM40 million," a
source close to the deal told Bernama recently.

The plant will use empty fruit branches (EFBs) as its raw material.

A commercial plant will involve an investment of between RM200 million and
RM250 million and it is expected to take two to three years to begin operation.

Mitsui Engineering is also expected to tie up with one of Malaysia's top
plantation companies.

"The parties involved are already in talks," said the source, who declined
to name the company involved.

Top officials of Mitsui Engineering, including its president Yasuhiko Katoh,
met with Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Mohd Yassin during the latter's
specific investment mission to Tokyo and Osaka in Japan recently.

Mitsui Engineering has built many advanced waste treatment facilities in
harmony with the surrounding environment.

Its "Recycling 21 (R21) Pyrolysis and High Temperature Combustion System" is
a waste treatment system developed to a commercial application level ahead of
other firms. The system has earned an excellent evaluation from many local
government bodies and authorities.

In the area of water treatment, it provide various systems such as treatment
of industrial wastewater and sewage, incineration of sludge and disposal of
waste oil.

In addition, its bio-gas plant converts the excreta of livestock to gas and
energy, and a unit in Denmark has achieved good results with this. (US$1=RM3.39)
-- BERNAMA