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State-owned Philippine National Oil Co.-Alternative Fuels Corp. (PNOC-AFC)
moves to intensify development of alternative sources of energy in
the country, starting with the acquisition of new equipment for the
Department of Science and Technology’s biofuel processing
facility.
Peter Anthony Abaya, PNOC-AFC president and CEO,
said that there is a need to push through with the development of
alternative sources of energy that are abundant in the country to
further reduce the Philippines’ dependence on imported oil, which
reached a record-high of $140 per barrel in the world market this
month.
PNOC-AFC, a unit of PNOC, has been pursuing the
development particularly of the jatropha plant for the country’s
biofuel requirements. The plant’s seed is a known biodiesel source
that is relatively cheaper and cleaner than its regular fuel
counterpart.
While various groups have been up in arms
against biofuels because a number of these “energy” crops
encroach on farmlands and forests, jatropha can grow in marginal
lands and denuded areas.
To further fast track its jatropha initiative,
PNOC-AFC has acquired a set of biofuel processing equipment as part
of its research & development project with the Department of
Science and Technology.
Abaya said the new set of equipment, which
includes a small-scale jatropha expeller that can process around 120
kilograms of jatropha seeds per hour, is already with the DOST.
He added that the construction of a jatropha
development facility at the DOST “where the processing of the
jatropha fruit, expelling of the seeds, purification of the oil and
transesterification will be done for the biofuels production is set
to be completed before the year ends.”
PNOC-AFC will also put up a Biofuel Testing and
Analytical Facility at the DOST for laboratory analysis of major
parameters needed for the evaluation of biofuels production in the
country, in collaboration with DOST, Philippine Council for Industry
and Energy Research and Development, Industrial Technology
Development Institute, and Metals Industry Research and Development
Center.
-- Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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