Eonmetall Mulls Plant within Sabah's POIC
Source: New Straits Times, 24 September 2010 | Author: Emmanuel, Marina
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Intro:
EONMETALL Group Bhd is mulling the possibility of setting up a palm kernel oil extraction plant within Sabah’s Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu.
Abstract:
EONMETALL Group Bhd is mulling the possibility of setting up a palm kernel oil extraction plant within Sabah’s Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) in Lahad Datu.
Sabah’s Minister of Industrial Development Datuk Raymond Tan Shu Kiah said the potential move by the Penang-based company is likely to lead to many other downstream products including cosmetics as anticipated by state-owned POIC Sabah Sdn Bhd, which is developing the cluster.
Tan spoke at the opening of Sabah’s first palm fibre oil extraction plant at Keningau at the Kim Loong Oil, which was commissioned and delivered by Eonmetall yesterday.
Tan said about 30 firms with investments totalling RM2.1 billion had already been attracted to the first two phases of POIC Lahat Datu.
“The first parcel of Phase 3 which spans over 200ha, is close to being ready for investors in biomass downstream activities,” he said when officiating at the new plant.
Present were Kim Loong Resources Bhd executive chairman Gooi Seong Lim, Eonmetall group director Tan Sri Soong Siew Hong and managing director Datuk Goh Cheng Huat.
The POIC Lahat Datu project which began in 2005, has its existing industrial tenants engaged in palm-oil based and supporting industries.
In confirming that Eonmetall is a potential investor to the palm oil cluster, Soong said the company wants to leverage on the presence of some 52 palm oil mills dotted within a 50km radius of Lahat Datu in the near future.
“These oil mills can provide millions of tonnes of palm oil and oil palm biomass for numerous value-add downstream industries such as medium-density fibre boards and renewable eco-friendly products for the furniture and housing industries which are welcome overseas.”
To date, Eonmetall has installed and commissioned four palm fibre oil extraction plants in Malaysia and Soong said that at least six more similar mills have been contracted to be delivered.
While he did not disclose the locations of the new facilities, it is learnt that all six will be located in West Malaysia.
The technology employed for solvent extraction by Eonmetall uses a combination of mechanical and chemical processes to extract oil from palm fibre, a palm fruit waste product that is generally burnt to generate steam or thrown away.
The oil extracted from the fibre can be processed as crude palm oil, while the de-oiled fibre can be used as a downstream material for wood-based industrial products.
Eonmetall has been developing the technology since the end of 2004.
It owns the patent in Malaysia and India, with patent application pending in Indonesia.
Tan said that Eonmetall’s invention, teamed with Kim Loon’s investment supports Malaysia’s need for productivity and placing higher value-add and innovation in achieving higher income goals.
“We hope that more of the 120-plus oil palm mills in Sabah will invest in the palm pressed fibre oil extraction technology, to minimise the value of our oil palm and further deepen the industry,” he added.
