Malaysia and Japan test recycling dead palm trees into biofuel

KUALA LUMPUR -- Japanese and Malaysian researchers are testing a process to turn felled palm trees into biomass that serves as a renewable source of energy.

The trunks of felled palm trees are arranged in stacks at a demonstration plant in Kluang, a town in southern Malaysia. The trunks, when fed into a machine, are reduced to heaps of moist, amber fiber within seconds.