Here’s a story out of Malaysia on using sap from “nipah,” or mangrove palm, to make an ethanol-like biofuel.
The substance is similar to ethanol from Brazil’s sugar cane or Europe’s sugar beet but nipah would have higher yield per hectare.
The state government, after studying a proposal from a KL-based company on Wednesday, agreed to allow the company to extract “nira” or nipah sap from 10,000ha of nipah area along the state’s coastal area.
A plant to be built in Malaysia would be the first in the world to produce ethanol from palm.