Challenges for biorefinery development in Thailand | |
| Author | Burin Sukphisal |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.SM-19-01 |
| Subject(s) | Bioreactors--Thailand Biotechnology--Thailand |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Thai Government has been trying to promote the use of biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel since the year 2000. The aim was to create alternative uses for agricultural products such as sugarcane, cassava and oil palm. However, due to the uncertainties in the policy and the fluctuation of crude oil, the success was hindered during the past 19 years. The competition between biofuel and fossil fuel has driven the margin to be very slim which, at micro level, affects the investors’ decisions. More importantly, at macro level, this limitation affects the farmers, poverty reduction, environment and economic growth. In this context, it is important to consider the concept of biorefinery in Thailand. Biorefinery involves the production of complex, high-value-added biochemicals that, unlike basic commodities, do not suffer from wild price swings. Currently, food and bioenergy producers in Thailand are stand alone entities. Some food manufacturers such as sugar, starch and palm oil mills have equipped themselves to use biomass to generate electricity or biogas. However, none have integrated the biorefinery system to include the production of more complicated, higher value-added biochemical products that are rapidly replacing petrochemicals in the world market today. The biorefinery concept can be a possible alternative for improving this limitation by producing higher value added products from crops. Therefore, knowing the factors that influence the decisions regarding the direction of the biorefinery development in Thailand and knowing players in the industry and international dynamic of the biorefinery system are crucial. Last but not least, this study would like to propose the suitable policy alternative of the Thai biorefinery system. The factors from the literature review are summarized and grouped into globallevel factors and country-level factors where global-level factors are those that affect both developed and developing countries, they are not at the same level. Five global-level factors and forty-two country-level factors are listed from literature. A group of experts and specialists were interviewed in order to obtain information about the significant factors and other important related data. These experts were selected from various fields involved with policy implementation namely entrepreneurs of concerned industries, such as sugar, starch, biomass, biofuel, biochemical industry; specialists from the Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Science and Technology; and academic institutions. The factors from literatures and expert interviews were used to develop the most appropriate alternatives for the biorefinery industry. An AHP questionnaire was developed. The factors and alternatives were inputted into AHP model and analysed. Weighted scores were given by industry experts to run pairwise comparisons and Expert Choice® software was used to give the prioritized factors and alternatives. Based on this, the policy implications were analyzed to get the recommendation for biorefinery and biochemical industry development in Thailand. This research reviewed the past achievements and current situation of the Thai biofuel and biochemical industries. Key players in the industry were identified and their influences on policy were analyzed. AHP helped bringing objectivity into the issue and it also eliminates individual biasness. The overall evolution of the industry, the policy implication and consequence were discussed. The results prove that biofuel and biochemical industry are a worthy major policy alternative, while the food and end user industries are ranked at lower priority. The factors which highly influenced the decision making are the return on investment and the iv raw material price. Thus, if government designs the privilege measures, it will highly contribute the investment motivation of the investor and also the measures to control the crop price at suitable level for biofuel and biochemical production will be highly reduce the risk. The result also indicated a clear direction for upgrading the stand alone facilities to be integrated biorefinery complex that would help reduce negative effect of oil price fluctuation, crops’ price fluctuation and, hence, reduces investors’ risk. All in all, this research convinces and recommends Thai government to support biofuel and biochemical industry as biorefinery policy directions rather than supporting food and end user industry. |
| Year | 2019 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Management |
| Department | Other Field of Studies (No Department) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Doctor of Philosophy in Management (Publication code = SM) |
| Chairperson(s) | Winai Wongsurawat |
| Examination Committee(s) | Islam, Nazrul.;Kumar, Sivanappan.;Sharma, Seema; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2019 |