From left: Wilhelmina co-founder and COO David Hiel, van Doorn, Wong and Ecoscience chairman Datuk Tan Yee Boon at the signing ceremony.Dutch renewable energy company Maatschappij Wilhelmina NV is investing US$60 million to build a TG2 black pellet plant, the first of its kind in the world, that uses empty fruit bunches from oil palms as feedstock to produce drop-in coal replacement fuel in Pahang
Wilhelmina CEO and co-founder Barthold van Doorn said it sees tremendous opportunities in generating renewable and carbon neutral energy through recycling industrial agricultural waste streams in Malaysia as the country is the second biggest producer of palm oil in the world. “Instead of being left to decay or filling up landfill, these can be transformed into a clean and high-energy coal replacement that could reduce as much as 12 million tonnes of methane, equivalent to 300 million tonnes of CO2.
Van Doorn said its investment into Malaysia is only the first step in its overall strategic expansion plan as the company has earmarked a number of locations in Malaysia, Japan and Southeast Asia.