NIPA might be the answer for the country’s quest for bioethanol, which does not compete with food production,
according to a successful study conducted by the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU).
The bioethanol project in Cagayan, a province in Northern Luzon, a known nipa-rich area, may help supply local energy demand, said Dr. Eufemio T. Rasco Jr., a nipa-research pioneer, in a statement on Monday, adding that “fossil resources have been dwindling since the 1970s.”
Rasco, also the concurrent executive director of the Philippine Rice Research Institute, said, “This project with the MMSU will increase farmers’ competitiveness, as nipa is a renewable energy that can fuel farm machinery and pump boats.”
“Rice farming and coastal communities will soon benefit from the first nipa bioethanol production facility recently launched in Cabaggan, Pampalona, Cagayan,” Rasco said.
A separate study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) last year concluded that “despite the huge potential of bioethanol products in integrating the country’s need for alternative-energy fuel and food sufficiency, a huge amount of work, aside from financial investments, is still needed.”
Junichiro Motoyama, who presented the Jica study, said his group’s research aimed at developing decentralized bioethanol-production systems in the rural areas in the country, noted the very limited cultivation of sweet-sorghum as one problem.
Motoyama said the decentralized production of bioethanol is more suitable at the rural areas and remote islands, because the long-distance transportation of feedstock or raw materials to the central plant can be avoided.
The main reason for the limited cultivation despite sustained support by the Philippine government and academe is the still-limited local market for biofuel crops that can attract the local farmers, the Japanese study said, adding that a financial package can be provided for the growers of feedstuff.
Rasco said nipa is considered as an important source of alternative fuel because it produces high amount of sap that can be converted to alcohol. “Producing as much as 26,000 liters of alcohol in a hectare per year, nipa is four times more productive than sugarcane, [currently the] main source of alcohol, which can only generate 6,700 liters.”
The facility in Cagayan, “after being tested through a retrofitted water pump, produced 95-percent to 96-percent bioethanol,” Nathaniel R. Mateo, MMSU project collaborator, was quoted as saying, adding that 100 liters of nipa sap can produce 7 liters to 9 liters of bioethanol within four-and-a-half hours.
“We felt and observed in an international level the connection between energy and rice supply in 2007 and 2008, when increasing oil price escalated the price of rice to its peak. That event heightened the importance of developing a new energy system that is renewable, decentralized and diversified,” Rasco said.
Rasco said nipa is a good source of bioethanol, or water-free alcohol produced from the fermentation of sugar or converted starch, because it does not compete as food, unlike other sources, such as corn, cassava, sorghum and sugarcane.
With the improved facility, the statement said, nipa wine with a 60-percent alcohol content and a 28-percent yield conversion rate was produced, while, previously, nipa wine was produced with 40- percent alcohol at 22-percent to 24-percent yield conversion rate.
“We hope to have this facility in more places in the Philippines and make nipa a widely used fuel by farmers and fishermen,” Rasco said.
The bioethanol facility is co-implemented by the local government unit of Cagayan and the MMSU’s Dr. Shirley Agrupis, lead of the nipa-bioethanol project.
The biofuel law, or Republic Act 9367, mandates a minimum blend of 5 percent in 2009 and approved by the National Fuels Board only early this year, and the inclusion of 10-percent bioethanol in all diesel and gasoline fuel by 2012.
Another potential biodiesel source, sweet sorghum, has been identified and is being supported by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy. Unfortunately, Philippine-grown sweet-sorghum has lower extruding rate of juice, only 80 tons per hectare, mainly because of an ineffective crushing machine, while in Japan, it is 200 tons per hectare, the Jica study said.
Sweet sorghum was introduced in the country in 2004 through the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development, an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology. Seventeen cultivars were initially provided by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-arid-tropics, a nonprofit agricultural research organization, and planted initially at the MMSU.
Sweet sorghum is being encouraged as a feedstock because, just like the coconut, it can also be a source of food, with almost the entire plant usable, including the stalk. The crop, however, is intolerant of too much water and strong typhoons.
At present, the largest commercial plantation of sweet sorghum is in the Ilocos region, by the Bapamin Farmers’ Cooperative, with 25 hectares. According to the study, 11,000 hectares of sweet sorghum are needed as a minimum, for a viable source of raw material for bioethanol.
The only available and potentially adequate sources for biofuel are coconut and sugarcane. Sugarcane, however, is more profitable as a source of raw sugar.