The Dung Quat Biofuel Plant, based in the central province of Quang Ngai, produced the first batch of E100 ethanol fuel on October 19 after five days since restarting, the company officials have announced.

Dung Quat Biofuel Plant 

According to Pham Van Vuong, Director of Central Biofuels Joint Stock Company (BSR-BF), which operates the plant, the capacity is currently 9 cubic metres per hour and will be increased soon.

BSR-BF’s partner Tocontap will be responsible for buying and distributing all of the plant’s products over the next 12 months, Vuong said, adding that the company is formulating a long-term plan to produce more products in the future.

The Dung Quat Biofuel Plant was completed in 2012 at a cost of VND1.887 trillion (US$81 million) but was forced to close in April 2015 due to falling oil prices and rising input costs, causing the plant to incur significant losses.

The plant resumed operations on October 14 after three years of closure. It is one of the 12 large inefficient projects managed by the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

In the first two weeks, the plant aims to run at 65% of its capacity, producing around 2,000 tonnes of products. The output is expected to reach 7,000 cubic metres of ethanol in the final two months of 2018 and increase to 35,000 cubic metres in 2019.

Nhan Dan