Sucre Ethique - Philipine : Bioethanol generates 180,000 jobs ; saves foreign exchange savings

PIA - mercredi 21 décembre 2011

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 21 (PIA) -– The country’s bioethanol industry has the potential of generating about 180,000 jobs and generate foreign exchange savings of nearly US$ 800 million by 2015, according to the Bureau of Agricultural Research (BAR) of the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Over the last five years, the BAR has been funding field testing of sweet sorghum varieties in different sites in the country in the vision to make Philippines less dependent on expensive, imported ethanol oil and generate rural jobs, its director Nicomedes Eleazar said in a statement here on Tuesday.

Through this initiative, Eleazar said it is estimated that bioethanol has the potential to generate jobs totaling 179,386 by 2015 and 289,611 by 2020. It may also generate foreign exchange savings placed at US$ 789.3 million in 2015 based on a study of the National Sweet Sorghum Program (NSSP).

“Sweet sorghum is a good alternative to other ethanol feedstocks. It can stand alone as a life-giving crop to farmers in far flung areas because it is used to make many food products like juice and syrup. But we will maximize its economic value by producing ethanol from it,” Eleazar said.

BAR has already obtained outstanding varieties of sweet sorghum through its partnership with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and a distillery has also been developed with the assistance from Department of Science and Technology (DOST), he said.

The machine was developed by scientist Sergio Capareda following his recent return to the country after a long stint with Texas University in the United States.

Capareda designed the distilling column and guided its fabrication, while Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) Material Science expert, Samuel Franco designed the furnace.

The NSSP, Eleazar said already sees hope of Philippines’ commercial production of sweet sorghum ethanol as several large companies have also positioned themselves for its processing. Among these are Seaoil’s Fuel Inc. and Philippine National Oil Company-Alternative Fuels Corp. (PNOC-AFC).

The Green Future Innovation Inc. (GFII) is also presently completing an ethanol plant in San Mariano, Isabela which will have a capacity of 250,000 liters per day. While its feedstock will primarily be sugarcane, it intends to use sweet sorghum as a complementary crop which may be used as feedstock in between sugarcane milling seasons.

An NSSP master plan being drafted indicates that from the collection of hydrous ethanol from the village level, this product should be transported to a Central Dehydrating Plant (CDP) near a fuel depot.

At the CDP level, the BAR director said bigger processing firms are expected to participate in this potential industry that is hoped to be supported by many government agencies. More investments may be required at the CDP-fuel depot level.

The “bench-type”distillery that processes sweet sorghum into ethanol in Ilocos Norte is seen to pave the way to Philippines’ mass production of biofuel that is using sweet sorghum as feedstock among small hold farms which will create jobs in rural areas.

The National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) has financed with P1 million through its KR2 program the establishment of the village-type distillery and now in its commission, the distiller has a capacity of 50 liters per day, merely a pilot scale. However, the government has a vision of massively replicating it in a bigger scale, Eleazar said.

“When they saw that it’s possible to put up this village-type distillery, NEDA saw the potential for sweet sorghum to create jobs in rural areas and create an industry since its low cost can enable its replication elsewhere,” Dr. Heraldo Layaoen, the NSSP head said in the same statement.

With more bench distillery in an area, farmers’ cooperatives may also be able to produce 1,000 to 5,000 liters of hydrous ethanol per day, he said.

Ilocos farmers, according to Layaoen had already been planting sweet sorghum in Batac, Ilocos Norte over the last five years with the assistance of the BAR. They are currently planting on 65 hectares but the target area is 100 hectares.

Field trials, he said have shown that farmers can achieve an average yield of 55 metric tons (MTs) per hectare of sweet sorghum stalk and 4,500 kilos of grains per harvest.

There can be as much as three harvests from one planting in a year— that is one seed crop or from the one planted and two ratoon crops.

At a cane price of P700 per MT and at P10 to P12 per kilo of seeds, farmers can earn a net income of P83,000 to P95,000 per cropping. If cane price goes up to P900 per MT, farmers can earn a net income of P103,000 to P115,000 per cropping, Layaoen said.

Along with job-generating benefits, sweet sorghum ethanol production may generate for the country carbon emission reduction benefits, he added. (MAL/DOC-Legazpi City)