The MVU Biodiesel Project

The Story So Far...

The construction of the biodiesel production facility at MVU's Kamchai Mear campus is now completed. The facility was built by local Khmer staff at MVU with the assistance of members from the local community, and the VIDA volunteer. All the parts were sourced locally, and it has the capacity to produce 200 litres of biodiesel per day. We are currently using waste vegetable oil as a feedstock to produce our biodiesel fuel. The used-cooking oil was donated by hotels, restaurants, and bars in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh

Click here to see the list of hotels and restaurants that have donated used-cooking oil to this project.

The biodiesel has been tested in generators on-campus with excellent results, providing a smooth and quieter operation of the engines. The biodiesel has also been distributed to selected members of the local community to promote its use locally.

In September, 2006 AusAID's Community Development Fund granted the MVU biodiesel project the funding required to complete the planting and growing of its own biodiesel feedstock crop, which is expected to be providing oil by mid-late 2008. The feedstock crop being used is Jatropha Curcas (lahong kwong). A seed processing facility has been built alongside the biodiesel production plant, and will extract the oil from the crops using an oil expelling machine.

Future plans for our project include working closely with the local community to encourage the planting of Jatropha crops by farmers, the purchase of these harvests from the local community, creating local cottage industries that produce soaps and candles from the biodiesel by-products, and further promoting the use of biodiesel fuel to replace imported diesel fuels.

A volunteer sponsored by AusAID's VIDA program is assisting locals with all aspects of the project and the Australian Aid for Cambodia Fund (AACF) is providing support and local technical assistance on-campus.