HÀ NỘI — Vietnam Central Biofuels JSC plans to restart its long-idled Dung Quất biofuel plant in September, with trial operations set for October and full commercial production expected in November, supplying ethanol for E10 fuel, according to director Phạm Văn Vượng.

The plant’s CO2 recovery system will be expanded by 40-50 tonnes per day to improve efficiency, he added.

The company, jointly owned by subsidiaries of State-run energy giant Petrovietnam, including Bình Sơn Petrochemical Refining (61 per cent), PV Oil (38.75 per cent) and PETROSETCO (0.25 per cent), operates Dung Quất biofuel plant, which produced around 330 tonnes of ethanol per day in 2014.

The plant has temporarily halted operation due to poor market conditions and profitability challenges. The resumption of production aligns with Việt Nam’s green energy ambitions.

Starting from the beginning of next year, all gasoline sold domestically will be required to contain 10 per cent of Ethanol.

With an estimated domestic gasoline consumption of 12-15 million cu.m annually, the ethanol demand might amount to 1.2 -1.5 million cu.m per year.

The current domestic ethanol production capacity stands at just around 450,000 cu.m annually, or around 40 per cent of the projected demand, while the rest must be reliant on imports.

Reviving the Dung Quất ethanol plant has become an urgent solution to bolster energy security amid global price volatility.

E10 is a mixture of unleaded gasoline and ethanol, with ethanol making up for 9-10 per cent by volume. The switch to E10 is an important step towards Việt Nam’s net-zero commitment. — BIZHUB