A week ago we heard that the government was going to start their B5 biodiesel programme in Putrajaya from June 2011. There will be 6 stations involved – all 5 Petronas stations and one Shell station. Seeing as we’re only about two days away from June 1st 2011, we’re sure that there are many questions going through your minds if you drive a diesel vehicle in Malaysia.
B5 is a blend of 95% regular petroleum-based diesel and 5% biodiesel. This source of biodiesel can be from various sources. Different countries with different climates typically choose a feedstock source that is most suitable with the environmental (mostly temperature) conditions in which the fuel has to work in.
For us, the feedstock that makes the most sense is palm oil, given that we are one of the biggest producers of palm oil around, and the properties of palm oil-based biodiesel are suitable for our climate. For example, we do not have to worry about winter temperatures. Palm oil based biodiesel tends to have incrementally worse cold weather operability.