P5-B ethanol plant to rise in Negros Occidental

BACOLOD CITY — An ethanol plant, to cost an estimated P3 to P5 billion, will be constructed soon in Brgy. Blumentritt, Murcia, Negros Occidental pursuant to a joint venture agreement between Biofuels International Phils., Inc. (BIPI) and a group of foreign investors.

BIPI President Roberto Montelibano disclosed that his group, composed of sugar farmers, businessmen and professionals, is now in the final stages of concluding the agreement with their foreign counterparts.

He said the new ethanol plant will be built within a 45-hectare property that will be developed into an industrial zone.

Montelibano, who is also President of the Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI), said the new ethanol plant has a capacity of 200,000 liters per day, with a co-generation plant capable of producing 19 megawatts (Mw) or 19,000 kilowatt per hour (kWh).

Said ethanol plant, added Montelibano, is designed to simultaneously process sugarcane and sweet sorghum and will use agricultural wastes as fuel.

Its annual production is projected at 45 million liters of alcohol and 95,000 Mwh of exportable electricity, he said.

This initial capacity is estimated to meet about seven percent of the alcohol requirement for the 10 percent alcohol blending with gasoline as mandated in the Biofuels Law starting crop year 2011 to 2012, he said.

The electricity from the power plant will then be supplied to electric cooperatives in Negros in response to Negros Occidental’s projected consumption growth.

source: mb