Dhaka, Scientists in Bangladesh have developed ways to produce petroleum from degradable organic municipal waste and are now studying its feasibility before going to commercial production.

"We have developed petroleum products from organic municipal wastes and we are looking into its commercial viability," Yunus Miah, principal engineer of the state-run Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), said Wednesday.

Miah said the scientists were using husk of paddy and oil seeds besides wastes. First they decompose the garbage and produce bio-oil from these wastes. Then they upgrade the bio-oil to petroleum products.

"We will have to have an economic analysis of the finding before going to commercial production," he said.

Dhaka daily produces around 15,000 tonnes garbage and the cost of collecting it is only nominal, he said, adding that there are still obstructions, poverty being the most important of them, in the way ot taking technology to the field.

Miah said: "We as a poor country will face many difficulties to go into commercial production," he added.

"If the cost of producing the petroleum products is at break-even point, we will be the gainer," said Naimul Haque, chief scientific officer at the BCSIR that falls under the science and information ministry of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh imports most petroleum products, about 3.7 million tonnes annually.

The country has limited coal and natural gas reserve. Its gas supply is short of demand while the coal mines are largely undeveloped.

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