CDM Feasibility Study for Biodiesel Fuel (BDF) Production from Organic Oils of Jatropha and Usage for Transportation Vehicles in Viet Nam | CDM/JI | Global Environment Centre Foundation (GEC)

Reports of CDM/JI Feasibility Studies

Title of Feasibility Study (FS)	CDM Feasibility Study for Biodiesel Fuel (BDF) Production from Organic Oils of Jatropha and Usage for Transportation Vehicles in Viet Nam
FY	FY 2010
Main Implementing Entity	Mitsubishi UFJ Research & Consulting Co., Ltd.
FS Partner(s)	RIN Vietnam (Vietnam), Revo International INC (Japan)
Location of Project Activity	Viet Nam (Bac Ai District, Ninh Thuan Province)
Category of Project Activity	Biomass Utilisation
Targeted GHG	CO2
CDM/JI	CDM
Duration of Project Activity/ Crediting Period	25 years (2011-2035)/ 21 years (2011-2031)
Summary of FS Report	Summary (PDF 314KB)
Description of Project Activity	The proposed project is located in Bac Ai District, Ninh Thuan Province in Vietnam. It intends to reduce GHG emissions by replacing fossil fuel with Biodiesel Fuel (BDF) for a captive fleet of vehicles. BDF will be produced from Jatropha oil seeds, and will be used for transportation vehicles in Vietnam. Jatropha will be cultivated for BDF in dedicated plantations where used to be degraded land, which will not cause any damage in the existing vegetation. The local people in Bac Ai District will be employed to cultivate Jatropha, which will bring economic benefits to the local society. The technology for BDF production will be introduced from Japan, which leads to transferring the technologies for proper operation of BDF production plant and quality control in Vietnam. BDF production plant, which has the capacity to produce the amount of 30,000 litters per day, will be built at an industrial park in Thuan Nam District, Ninh Thuan Province. The local people will engage in the production of BDF.
Methodology to be applied	AMS-III.A.K Biodiesel production and use for transport applications, Version 01 or after
Baseline Scenario	Continuation of current practices with no investment in Jatropha plantation and biodiesel production capacity.
Demonstration of Additionality	Eliminate and rank the plausible alternatives taking into account barrier tests specified in attachment A to Appendix B of simplified modalities and procedures of SSC CDM. (a) Technological barrier: As there is no regulations obliging the use of BDF fuel in Vietnam, BDF production has not been commercialized according to interviews conducted by the project to major ministries in the host country. The interviewed ministries are as follows: Ministry of Transport: Ministry in charge of regulating fuels used in transportation Ministry of Industry and Trade: Ministry in charge of fuel production Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development: Ministry in charge of crops and tree cultivation In all interviews, the project participant confirmed that there are no regulations that oblige production of BDF or BDF producers producing the fuel. In this aspect, in Vietnam the technology to produce BDF is yet to be introduced and locals have no access to the technology. Conversely, the currently used diesel is proven fuel and has no unknown risk as it does with BDF. As there is no case of introducing BDF in Vietnam, BDF could have inherent risk of performance in comparison with diesel. (b) Barrier due to prevailing practice: As mentioned above, there is no regulation and also no case where BDF was introduced for replacing diesel in transport sector of Vietnam. Current practices for transport sector are to use diesel as BDF is not available in the market. This would lead to alternative with higher emissions.
Estimation of GHG Emission Reductions	2,259tCO2 for the first year, and 8,407tCO2 for the second year and later
Monitoring Plan	Monitoring will be carried out in accordance with the monitoring plan and parameters stated in the Table III.AK.2 of AMS-III.A.K. The followings are the main parameters to be monitored: Quantity of biodiesel produced and consumed, Net calorific value of BDF, Fraction of blending, Total cultivation area of Jatropha, Quantities of transported items, Electricity consumption, Consumption of fossil fuel, Net calorific value of fossil fuel, Emissions factor of fossil fuel, Amount of glycerin associated with BDF production, etc.
Environmental Impact Analysis	The environmental impact assessment (EIA) for this project will be conducted for Jatropha plantation and construction of BDF production plant. As the project is at the planning stage, it has not applied for EIA necessary for a project approval from local authority, People’s Committee of Ninh Thuận province. Although it has not received formal EIA approval by the local government, the project participant believes that the project would not lead to environmental impacts for the following reasons: [Jatropha plantations] For jatropha oilseeds production, dedicated plantations will be established on degrading and degraded lands to minimize the environmental impacts to the site. The lands planned to be used for the project are mostly un-vegetated lands. [BDF production plant] The plant is planned to be constructed in an industrial estate of the province which the local government has established. As construction of the plant takes place in the already established industrial estate, environmental impacts to the construction site are expected to be minimal. The details of the impacts will be analyzed in the EIA when applying for project approval of the local government.
Project Feasibility	Test plantation of Jatropha has already begun in the project site. The project participants have made contract with local people for cultivation of test plantation and started to talk to other land owners. The project participants have also started to talk to banks and trading companies for financing.
"Co-benefits" (i.e. Improvement of Local Environmental Problems)	It is expected to help improvement of local air quality since BDF substituting fossil fuel will reduce emissions of air pollutant such as SOx and PM.
Contribution to Sustainable Development in Host Country	In recent years, in Vietnam, air pollution by fossil fuel use from economic growth is a serious problem. Especially the vehicles depend on fossil fuel. This project activity will contribute to reduce the fossil fuel use for vehicles by BDF. Consumption of the BDF made from oil seeds of Jatropha is considered to be carbon-neutral. Vehicle fuel conversion from fossil fuel to the BDF will lead to reduction of CO2 emissions and air pollution. This project activity will generate renewable energy without any GHG emissions. The Vietnamese government intends to promote the use renewable energy such as bioethanol fuel. This project will speed up the growth of renewable energy technologies in Vietnam. The project activity would contribute to the creation of employment opportunities to the local people during the construction of the project and provides regular