Women plant physic nut plants at the government’s request in Lashio, Shan State, during a tour of media and NGO representatives to the area in January this year. Pic: Myint Soe

A PRIVATE company is planning to launch a small-scale bio-fuel generator that it says can cope with the rough treatment machines receive from the government-promoted physic nuts.

The company, San San Engineering, says the fuel processors would be useful in rural areas and are targeted at those places where physic nuts and fish oil are abundant.

“The ingredients the machines use are physic-nut oil or fish oil together with ethanol and sodium hydroxide,” said company owner U Tin Win.

He said many people in Myanmar’s rural areas currently do not know how to properly use oil derived from physic nuts, which is being widely promoted across the country with the government requiring households outside of urban areas to grow at least two of the plants.

“From a technological point of view, physic-nut oil by itself is not enough to drive engines. It can be used as fuel for single-stroke engines but experts don’t support it,” he said.

“There is glycerine in the oil that can damage the engine. But our system separates the glycerine.”

Once processed, the fuel could be used safely in a range of machines such as portable electricity genera-tors and tractors, he said, adding that the glycerine could be used to produce soap.

Renewable energy experts Dr Kyaw Htin and U Soe Myint were collaborating with the company to help develop the “perfect system”, U Tin Win said.

He said the company expected processors capable of producing between 50 and 100 litres of bio-fuel at a time to sell for about K3 million.