Energy exec: Long way to go for biofuels in the Philippines

Mindanao will play a key role in the country's bid to increase the use of biofuels but an energy department official says the Philippines has a long way to go to match other countries performance in the field.

"Although the Bio-fuels law mandates the use of bio-ethanol and coco-diesel, we are still in our infancy compared to other countries like Brazil," said Energy Undersecretary Mariano Salazar told Business World. "We have a lot of hard work ahead of us and there remains a strong opposition to the use of biofuels in the country."

Brazil is the world's biggest producer of ethanol with 12.5 million liters, followed by USA with 7.1 million liters in 2001.

Mr. Salazar said the Biofuels project has now moved beyond the purview of the energy department and into the mainstream as a national project. Besides the DOE, he said other government agencies now in the forefront of production, processing and research and development of biofuels include Trade and Industry, Agriculture, Science and Technology, the Sugar Regulatory Commission (for bio-ethanol) and Philippine Coconut Authority (for coco diesel).

In a recent presentation at a biofuels forum hosted by this city, Mr. Andy Ulgado, DOE senior science research specialist, said the country's demand for gasoline is projected to reach 5.102 billion liters by 2008.

"The first two years of the Bio-fuels Law mandates the use of 268 million liters of 5% blend bioethanol," he added. "To produce this amount, 63,810 hectares of sugarcane plantations are needed to produce 3.6-million metric tons of raw sugar cane for feedstock."

When the country's total demand for gasoline hits 7,210 million liters by 2015, Mr. Ulgado said the total hectarage of sugarcane plantations needed to produce the 721 million liters of 10% blend bio-ethanol mandated by the Biofuels law would need 171,667 has. producing 10.3 million metric tons of raw sugar cane for feedstock.

The use of five percent bioethanol as mandated by the Bio-Fuels Law will save the country US$10,068 million in foreign exchange at a volume of 268 million liters, and US27, 036 million at a level of 721 million liters of 10% bio-ethanol by 2010, Mr. Ulgado said.

Similarly, the mandated shift to coco biodiesel (coco-methyl-ester or CME) would result to savings of US$420,000 for government vehicles using one percent blend at a volume of 882,000 liters and US$41 million nationwide at a volume of 86 million liters. When the law requires the CME blend to rise to five percent, the country stands to save US$205-million at a volume of 429,400,000 liters.

Unlike the 95% pure hydrous ethanol used as pure alcohol fuel or alcogas during the Marcos era, Mr. Ulgado said the 99.5% anhydrous alcohol used for blending with gasoline in the present generation of Biofuels is a high-octane, water-free alcohol produced from the fermentation of sugar converted starch.

"It is a colorless clear liquid in its purest form with no basic or acidic properties," he added. "It can be used as liquid fuel in internal combustion engines either on its own or blended with petroleum."

Besides ensuring energy security through reduced dependence on imported oil, Mr. Ulgado said the expanded use of bio-fuels would improve the country's trade balance, increased activity and employment in the regions, and be friendlier to the environment since the higher octane improves combustion and reduces emissions.

On the downside, until the Philippines begins producing ethanol in sufficient quantities, biofuel suppliers would have to import their ethanol requirement like Seaoil does from Brazil.

"Bioethanol is also feasible only provided the world price of crude does not go lower than US$40 per barrel," said Seaoil President Glenn Francis Yu. However, he said Seaoil does not foresee world crude prices dropping lower than that price any time soon or thereafter.

Under the energy department's ethanol road map, the country would have to invest in infrastructure to build up a sufficient feedstock inventory. This would entail the development and mapping of a variety of potential feedstock and the enhancement of plantation programs.

At present, the energy department has monitored some seven ethanol projects all over the country with total investments of P6.962-billion and a daily production capacity of 880,000 liters per day capacity.

The Sugar Regulatory Commission has identified 194,596 has. of suitable areas for sugar cane expansion identified by surveys it commissioned in Lanao del Norte, Sarangani, South Cotabato, the Agusan provinces, Maguindanao and Central Palawan with another 154, 116 has. identified by private firms, 52% of which are in Mindanao.

Virgilio Valmoria, chairman of the Transport Federation of Cagayan de Oro, said federation members are now trying out alternative fuels like bio-ethanol, bio-diesel and autogas to find less polluting and cleaner alternative to present petroleum based fuels.

Trafeco is Cagayan de Oro's biggest transport federation with over 6,000 members and 2,000 public utility motor vehicles, 90% of which are diesel-engine jeepneys.

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