Ethanol distillery to hike production to 40 million liters

CEBU, Philippines - The first integrated fuel ethanol distillery in the country aims to increase this year its ethanol supply to Petron by five million liters.

Shivah Mehrabi, corporate communications manager of San Carlos Bioenergy Inc. (SCBI), said in a phone interview that the company’s distillery has the maximum capacity to produce 40 million liters of fuel-grade ethanol this year.

“(All of this) will be supplied to Petron. Since we have an agreement (that they are our first customer,) Petron is our priority. If they decline to purchase (our product,) then that is the time that we can sell to other fuel retailers. So far, Petron has purchased all our production,” she told The Freeman.

SCBI, incorporated in May 2005, operates the first integrated ethanol distillery and power cogeneration plant in the Philippines and the Southeast Asian region. It is located in San Carlos Agro-industrial Economic Zone on the eastern coast of Negros Occidental.

The plant’s developer, Bronzeoak Philippines, provided the expertise in biomass power plant engineering while its principal sponsor, Zabaleta and Company, provided sugar-based agricultural experience.

Mehrabi said SCBI was able to deliver 35 million liters of ethanol to Petron last year. Petron has rolled-out a portion of these to the Visayas market.

The sale of fuel grade ethanol to one of the major local gasoline retailers in the country displaces approximately 15-percent of the country’s petroleum imports, generating a balance of payment and foreign currency benefits to the Philippines, according to SCBI’s website.

When asked if this locally-produced ethanol can help bring down the cost of gasoline in the country, Mehrabi expressed doubt, saying that the price of ethanol is also dependent on the supply of sugarcane.

“There are times when the supply (of sugarcane) is scarce. This could affect our selling price,” she said.

The ethanol distillery, which processes a feedstock of mixed juice from sugarcane, also provides a ready market for sugarcane growers in Negros Occidental, Mehrabi said.

SCBI needs approximately 400,000 tons of sugarcane per year, all of which will come from the 9,000-hectare San Carlos Sugar District.

Ethanol fuel, which can be used as transport fuel, is the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. It is mainly used as a biofuel additive for gasoline. Unlike petroleum, bioethanol is a form of renewable energy that can be produced from agricultural feedstocks such as sugarcane, potato, and maize.

The state-of-the art SCBI includes a cane mill, distillery, cogeneration plant, carbon dioxide recovery plant, anaerobic digestion plant, and fuel ethanol storage and loading facilities.

The distillery will process sugar cane crushed on-site and the cogeneration plant will utilize the residual sugar cane pulp known as bagasse as its primary fuel. The methane produced during anaerobic digestion will be used as supplemental fuel for the boiler. By-products include food grade carbon dioxide which is captured for sale as well as fertilizer produced from the liquid effluent and solid waste, which will be recycled for the use of cane farmers supplying the plant.

The project is registered with the Board of the Investments and enjoys incentives under the local government code.

source: philstar