Skip to main content

P3-B ethanol processing plant to rise in Isabela

ILAGAN, Isabela - All is set for the establishment of a P3.5 billion bio-fuel farm and ethanol plant capable to produce at least 100,000 liters of ethanol in a former logging town here.

Mayor Edgar Go, whose San Mariano town will be the site of what could be Luzon’s first bio-fuel farm and ethanol plant, yesterday (25 Oct) said that the project’s major Japanese investor-proponents have already visited the 300-hectare reserved site and given it the green light for the project to proceed.

“It’s all systems go for the project. The contractor and Japanese investors has already seen and inspected the site. Besides, nobody has raised a protest against the project since our constituents know this would be an additional livelihood for them,” he said.

A former logging area and hotbed of communism, San Mariano, one of the region’s biggest municipalities in terms of area, lies along the foothills of the Sierra Madre.

Aside from the ethanol processing plant, the project consists of a 90-hectare nursery which is part of the 300-hectare field planted to sugarcane, the project’s main raw materials for ethanol fuel here.

“The construction of the plant,” Go added, “will still have to undergo several phases before it becomes fully operational. When it is completed, the processing plant will be able to produce some 125,000 liters of ethanol per day from the sugarcane.”

Ethanol fuel which is to be produced in the said plant is derived from ethyl alcohol, which also used in the manufacture of alcoholic drinks. It can be used as a fuel, mainly as a bio-fuel alternative to gasoline.

Besides sugarcane, ethanol fuel can also be made from the extracts of common crops like corn, or from jathropa plant, which is now being pushed by the Department of Energy as bio-fuel source.

The government has been venturing into finding alternative as well as environment-friendly fuel sources like bio-fuels to lessen the country’s dependence on petroleum products.

Recently, the provincial government under Gov. Grace Padaca has recently revived its plan to establish a coal-fired plant, another energy source here, with the help of Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) in the province’s northern area. CCL

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NFRDI completes assessment of Buguey lagoon

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan – Apprehensions over the protection of fishery and other natural resources, relative to the planned dredging of the Buguey Lagoon, can be put to rest after government agencies led by the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute has outlined a number of points to consider in order to forestall any negative effect of such activity . The lagoon, situated at Buguey town some 140 kilometers north of this capital city, is a center of fishery activities particularly seaweeds (Gracilaria) and oyster production, fry and crablets gathering, and fish cage operations. However, the area has been under threat recently due to heavy siltation and constriction resulting to poor water exchange. “The freshwater from the western end and saline water from the sea can not flow freely due to heavy siltation particularly at the portion near the main bridge which affects water quality and fishery operations in the lagoon,” Venchito Villarao, Coastal Resource Management spe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Isabela town gets national prominence from mungbean

SAN MATEO, Isabela—This region’s topmost major rice-producing province has recently gained national prominence among the country’s local government units with its production of mungbean, dubbed here as "black gold." This is especially true in this formerly obscure town, whose administration has been recently recognized by the prestigious Galing Pook Award for initiating years of painstaking research in the development of the said leguminous crop, known as munggo or balatong in the vernacular, which is now a major protein source. Last week, this town’s "black gold," now a leading summer crop here, has been instrumental in the town’s being bestowed the most-sought-after local government honor by no less that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a ceremony in Malacañang. Sponsored by Ford Foundation, Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Local Government Academy and the Galing Pook Foundation, the Galing Pook Awards this year had 141 entries, with 19 landing as fi...
Post a Comment
Read more

DIDIPIO GOLD PROJECT STANDOFF CONTINUES

NV gov tells Atienza: ‘I’m in control of my senses’ By CHARLIE C. LAGASCA BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya – “I am not senseless with what I am doing.” This is what an obviously irate Gov. Luisa Lloren Cuaresma said yesterday (10 May) in answer to statements of Environment Secretary Lito Atienza telling her to “come to her senses” and not to persist in moves to stop a foreign mining firm from operating here. Meanwhile, the talks between the provincial government and environment officials led by Mines and Geosciences Bureau national director Horacio Ramos have failed, as the provincial government refused to withdraw its cease and desist order until Australian firm Oceana Gold Philippines settles its quarrying fees due this province. The national government contracted Oceana Gold for the multibillion Didipio Gold-Copper Project in Kasibu town here, which is Cagayan Valley’s first large-scale mining venture, and so far one of the two projects approved by the government since the enactment of the ...
Post a Comment
Read more