3.1.1. Malaysia

In 2000, Malaysia included RE (small-scale hydro, solar, geothermal, wind and biomass) as its fifth energy source under the Fifth Fuel Diversification policy. Palm oil is the primary source of biofuel in Malaysia, with its available biomass from the 4.69 <sup>×</sup> 106 ha of oil palm plantations [75]. Crude palm oil is the primary feedstock to produce biodiesel or palm methyl ester (PME) [76]. In 2006, Malaysia announced the National Biofuel Policy (NBP) with the aim to improve energy security, environmental performance, and increasing the domestic consumption of surplus palm oil [77].

Malaysia has been actively promoting the use of biodiesel for its transportation sector and subsidised sector. The Biofuels Industry Act 666 was enacted in 2008 for the licensing and the regulation of the biofuel's industry and the mandate B5 blend was introduced for transport and industrial use progressively to all states from 2011–2014 [78]. In November 2014, the B7 biodiesel was introduced nationwide to increase the use of biodiesel by 47.5%, up to 575,000 t/y [79]. Subsequently, under the year 2019 Malaysian budget, the government implemented the B10 biodiesel program for the transportation sector and B7 for the industrial sector [80]. The consumption of palm oil was expected to reach 700,00–800,000 t palm oil annually under the B10 program, which is 50% higher under the B7 programme in 2018 [81]. Malaysia's government presently aims to raise its biodiesel mandate blend from the current B10 to B20 for the transport sector and from the present B7 to B10 for the industrial sector by 2020 [82].

Bioethanol is less utilised in Malaysia despite the high biomass production and availability [83], with 15.8–17 Mt/y of empty fruit bunches produced that can be converted to bioethanol through pre-treatment, hydrolysis and fermentation [84]. There is currently no mandate blend of bioethanol under the NBP. The Malaysian market for bioethanol is potentially much larger than the market for biodiesel because a much more significant proportion of the vehicle fleet runs on gasoline [83]. Abdulrazik et al. [85] identified a profit of around \$710 M/y, assuming single ownership from different bio-products derived from empty fruit bunch.
