Gov't eyes American technology for nonfood bioethanol
01/24/2010 | 05:22 PM
The government is wooing American investors who will bring in the technology for biofuel production using wood, grasses, or the nonedible parts of plants, a senior Agriculture official said at the weekend.
“We’re eyeing the use of agricultural waste as biofuel feedstock to produce more bioethanol to ease the pressure on food crops like sugar cane and avoid the conflict of crops for food or fuel," said Marriz Agbon, president of the state-owned Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp.
He said the government was holding a road show and investment mission this year for American investors to come here. “I just spoke to the [United States Department of Agriculture] and the feedback was that the technology is now ready for commercialization," he added.
He said the Philippines can exploit the technology since it has so much agricultural waste, such as corn and rice stalks, rice hull and bran.
Converting these into ethanol requires less fossil fuel, so it can do a better job than corn ethanol in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
“They are talking about plants that can yield as much as five million gallons of biofuel per year," he said, adding that the country would now have use for the mountains of rice hull that litter rice fields every crop season.
The country’s bioethanol requirement is about 220 million liters for 2010. By 2011, this will double to 440-500 million liters.
The Philippines produces 39 million liters of bioethanol yearly — 30 million liters from the San Carlos Bioenergy Corp. in Tarlac and the remaining nine million liters from the Leyte Agri. Corp in Ormoc.
Last week, a Korean energy company signed a joint venture deal with the Central Luzon Bioenergy Corp to build a $300-million bioethanol plant in Clark, Pampanga.
The joint venture aims to produce as much as 150 million liters of ethanol yearly using sugarcane as feedstock. Construction is expected to start this quarter and commercial operations by 2012. — GMANews.TV
“We’re eyeing the use of agricultural waste as biofuel feedstock to produce more bioethanol to ease the pressure on food crops like sugar cane and avoid the conflict of crops for food or fuel," said Marriz Agbon, president of the state-owned Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp.
He said the government was holding a road show and investment mission this year for American investors to come here. “I just spoke to the [United States Department of Agriculture] and the feedback was that the technology is now ready for commercialization," he added.
He said the Philippines can exploit the technology since it has so much agricultural waste, such as corn and rice stalks, rice hull and bran.
Converting these into ethanol requires less fossil fuel, so it can do a better job than corn ethanol in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
“They are talking about plants that can yield as much as five million gallons of biofuel per year," he said, adding that the country would now have use for the mountains of rice hull that litter rice fields every crop season.
The country’s bioethanol requirement is about 220 million liters for 2010. By 2011, this will double to 440-500 million liters.
The Philippines produces 39 million liters of bioethanol yearly — 30 million liters from the San Carlos Bioenergy Corp. in Tarlac and the remaining nine million liters from the Leyte Agri. Corp in Ormoc.
Last week, a Korean energy company signed a joint venture deal with the Central Luzon Bioenergy Corp to build a $300-million bioethanol plant in Clark, Pampanga.
The joint venture aims to produce as much as 150 million liters of ethanol yearly using sugarcane as feedstock. Construction is expected to start this quarter and commercial operations by 2012. — GMANews.TV
