The Company

Korat Waste to Energy Company Ltd. (KWTE) is a special purpose company formed to construct a baffled anaerobic digester at the Sanguan Wongse Industries (SWI) starch factory in the Korat District of Thailand. The digester converts organic waste from SWI's starch factory into biogas. The biogas is piped to SWI where it replaces SWI's use of fuel oil for starch drying and for the production of 3.1 MW of electric power.

SWI, one of the largest starch factories in Thailand, processes 7,500 tons of cassava roots per day and discharges 300 m3 per hour of waste water into KWTE’s anaerobic digester. Before KWTE large lagoons acted as anaerobic digesters, and one could easily see large quantities of biogas bubbling from the lagoons. This biogas is now produced in the anaerobic digester and then used to provide SWI's energy needs.

The Development Team

Clean Thai initiated KWTE in 2001. Clean Thai retained Waste Solutions Incorporated to assist with the analysis of the organic waste and the preliminary design of the digester. Agreements were negotiated with SWI for the use of its organic waste and for the sale of biogas and electricity after which a more detailed design, cost estimates and construction schedule were created. After several months of due diligence and financial analysis, Al Tayyar Energy joined the development team with a commitment to finance the project. Project construction began in January 2002. REEF joined KWTE as an equity investor in March 2002.

Project Status

The Project began in Jan 2002 with the construction of a pilot plant. The pilot plant, which was designed to test the production of biogas from the starch factory waste under a number of conditions, provided necessary information for the final design of the baffled anaerobic digester.

Excavation of the digester began in Feb 2002. The dimensions of the digester are approximately 110 x 90 m with a depth of 8 -10 meters. Over 80,000 cubic meters of soil were removed. This soil was used by SWI for construction on its property. Excavation was completed in May 2002. Piping and filling of the digester were completed in July 2002. The digester began producing biogas in September 2002. Commissioning of the biogas plant was completed in March 2003.

The first phase of construction was the production of biogas for the SWI starch dryers. Phase Two was the construction of the electric power plant. Phase Two began in January and was completed in September 2003.

The Sponsors

The principal investors in the Project are Al Tayyar Energy and the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Fund.