Japan's Toyo to build 10,000 mt/year ethanol plant in Malaysia by Q2 2013

Japanese Toyo Engineering Co is to build a 10,000 mt/year industrial-grade ethanol plant in Johor Baru, Malaysia by Q2 2013, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

The plant, to be run by a joint venture comprising US firm Glycos Biotechnologies and Malaysian developer Bio-XCell, will have its capacity tripled to 30,000 mt/year by 2014, the statement said.

The plant will produce industrial-grade ethanol from crude glycerin, which is an atypical feedstock for ethanol.

Crude glycerin is a byproduct from the production of palm methyl ether, Kenji Sato from Toyo Engineering's communications division said.

The Toyo Engineering contract, which will cover engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the plant, is worth $30 million, Sato said.

Bio-XCell is a developer of biotechnology industrial parks in Malaysia, while Glycos Biotechnologies commercializes renewable chemicals. (See)

--Regina Escobar, Regina