Philippines and South Korean partner to build biofuel plant

Local firm Central Luzon Bioenergy and its South Korean partner will spend $ 300 mm to build a 150-mm litre per year bioethanol production and co-generation plant in Central Luzon. The project marks the first time a Korean firm will invest in local bioethanol production and will be the biggest bioethanol project to date, a senior agriculture official said.
Under a memorandum of understanding, the partners will start commercial operations of the bioethanol plant in Clark, Pampanga in 2012 using sugarcane as feedstock.

The firms will use sugarcane from 30,000 hectares of plantations to be put up in Tarlac, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija starting in February, Marriz B. Agbon, president of the Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corp. (PADCC) told.
"So that becomes the biggest project of ethanol we have for the Philippines...comparable to [bioethanol plants] in Brazil," Mr Agbon said.
Furthermore, Mr Agbon said, "It will have a [power] co-generation component. The projection is it will be able to generate 40 MW of power [per year]." The bioethanol plant will need only 5 to 10 MW per year, Mr Agbon said, which means it can "contribute to the energy requirement of the Clark ecozone."

Korea Western Power Co., the original partner of Central Luzon Bioenergy, backed out of the same project due to disagreements over technical details, Mr Agbon said. PADCC, the marketing arm of the Agriculture department, is in charge of brokering deals with foreign agricultural firms and identifying possible sites for their agribusiness investments.
A number of biofuel production projects have already been under way or are about to start.

San Carlos Bioenergy, in partnership with British Bronzeoak, produces 30 mm litres of bioethanol per year, while local Roxol Bioenergy, which will operate this quarter, will also produce 30 mm litres per year.
Leyte Agri, which partnered with Indian Praj Industries, produces 9 mm litres per year. Cavite Biofuels Producers and Green Future Innovations that partnered with Japanese Itochu will produce 30 mm litres each starting 2011 and 2012, respectively, Mr Agbon said.

"For ethanol, there is a proposal for the importation of 150 mm litres this year," Mr Agbon said, adding that local production is not enough to supply the country's needs.
Under Republic Act 9367, or the Biofuels Law of 2006, the government mandated all gasoline sold in the country to have a 5 % blend of bioethanol equivalent to 219 mm litres. By 2011, the minimum blend requirement will be increased to 10 %.