Thai ethanol capacity to rise 50%

Thailand’s ethanol capacity will increase by about half this year to nearly 3 million liters a day, Energy Minister Wannarat Channukul said. The rise will be due to four new plants coming onstream. According to Wannarat, two new ethanol plants with a combined capacity of 450,000 liters per day (lpd) are in the test-run stage and another two with combined daily capacity of 540,000 liters will be completed later this year. This will add to ethanol production at 12 plants with a combined capacity of 2 million lpd. Domestic demand currently stands around 1.2 million lpd. Ethanol is widely used as an alternative fuel for vehicles in Thailand. (July 2, 2009)