Potential biodiesel production from palm oil, coconut oil and soybean oil for Thailand

The government began subsidizing the use of B20 in large trucks on a voluntary basis beginning in 2016 and intends to implement the B10 requirement in 2018 for all diesel sales. However, policy makers in both the MOE and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) recently agreed that the mandatory biodiesel consumption plan for 2036 may be unattainable (given the strategy does not permit reliance on imports) and is therefore being reexamined. Despite an increase in harvested area, crude palm oil (CPO) production, the only feedstock used for biodiesel in Thailand, stagnated at 1.8-2.0 million from 2014-2016 due to unfavourable weather conditions. Thailand experiences a great economic and industrial development and is the second largest energy consumer in South East Asia. Being a net oil importer, Thai government has declared a renewable energy development programme in order to secure sustainable development and energy security. Thailand spends more than 10% of GDP for energy imports and transport sector accounts for 36% of total final energy consumption of which 50% is diesel. Diesel marks a huge impact on Thai economy

A complementarity-based equilibrium model of biodiesel market, in Thailand

This paper presents a complementarity-based model making a decision for energy production in biodiesel market. This model has three strategic players complete against each other on the biodiesel productions. All three players make up biodiesel from agricultural products and they are price-takers. The first player represents producers who produce and sell biodiesel from palm oil. The second and third players produce and sell biodiesel from coconut oil and soybean oil, respectively. The strategic player’s decisions involve quantities of palm, coconut and soybean oil related with the market price. This paper uses operation research to optimize a decision maker’s objectives within the limits of available agricultural products and also provide results for sustainable energy production

Potential biodiesel production from palm oil, coconut oil and soybean oil for Thailand

The government began subsidizing the use of B20 in large trucks on a voluntary basis beginning in 2016 and intends to implement the B10 requirement in 2018 for all diesel sales. However, policy makers in both the MOE and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) recently agreed that the mandatory biodiesel consumption plan for 2036 may be unattainable (given the strategy does not permit reliance on imports) and is therefore being reexamined. Despite an increase in harvested area, crude palm oil (CPO) production, the only feedstock used for biodiesel in Thailand, stagnated at 1.8-2.0 million from 2014-2016 due to unfavourable weather conditions. Thailand experiences a great economic and industrial development and is the second largest energy consumer in South East Asia. Being a net oil importer, Thai government has declared a renewable energy development programme in order to secure sustainable development and energy security. Thailand spends more than 10% of GDP for energy imports and transport sector accounts for 36% of total final energy consumption of which 50% is diesel. Diesel marks a huge impact on Thai economy

A complementarity-based equilibrium model of biodiesel market, in Thailand

This paper presents a complementarity-based model making a decision for energy production in biodiesel market. This model has three strategic players complete against each other on the biodiesel productions. All three players make up biodiesel from agricultural products and they are price-takers. The first player represents producers who produce and sell biodiesel from palm oil. The second and third players produce and sell biodiesel from coconut oil and soybean oil, respectively. The strategic player’s decisions involve quantities of palm, coconut and soybean oil related with the market price. This paper uses operation research to optimize a decision maker’s objectives within the limits of available agricultural products and also provide results for sustainable energy production

The Karen villagers’ knowledge development in road construction: a case study of Panoki –Kopadoh (PNK) route

The Karen, of Panoki village agreed to upgrade the unpaved PNK route to a bamboo reinforced concrete road which used money from the donation. At the beginning of the road construction project, 2010, there were many problems concerned with construction technique and accidents. Civil Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL) was invited to be a road construction consultant of Panoki-Kopadoh (PNK) route during 2012 to 2017. As the villages of Panoki in Tak province and Kopadoh in Chiang Mai province are in Thailand’s northern remote mountainous areas connected by a 16.5 km unpaved narrow track of Panoki-Kopadoh (PNK) route. In fact, the majority of volunteer villagers understand only the Karen language, lack the basic construction skills, and show no regard for personal safety and hygiene. The consulting team thus provided a training program prior to construction and assisted with technical advice since the onset of the project. As an achievement of the project depends on people participation, this research is to examine the pre-and post-training local workers’ knowledge development and attitudes toward the academic services provided by KMITL through direct observations, a Likert-scale-based questionnaire, and in-depth interviews. The findings reveal that the participating villagers have learned to construct a bamboo reinforced concrete road and are intent on applying the knowledge to similar projects in the future. They exhibit the higher level of knowledge development following the training and also hold a positive attitude toward KMITL’s academic services