news/updates
Potential seen in next generation of biofuels
By Maria Kristina C. Conti
BusinessWorld
October 4, 2007
THE COUNTRY COULD up the ante in its alternative fuels program via "second-generation" biofuels — petroleum alternatives produced from non-food feedstock, particularly waste from agriculture and forestry.
"There is a lot of potential for second generation fuels, either from agricultural waste or biomass to produce power or both ethanol and biodiesel," Philippine National Oil Co.-Alternative Fuels Corp. (PNOC-AFC) president Peter Anthony A. Abaya told BusinessWorld yesterday.
Such a program would be free of the controversial debate of "food versus fuel", especially since in the Philippines coconut oil is primarily used to produce biodiesel. The seed of a local non-edible plant, jatropha, has also been promoted recently as an alternative feedstock.
"We expect a lot of biomass left after seed and oil extraction," Mr. Abaya said, emphasizing that the efficient use of feedstock would help lead the country to 60% energy self-sufficiency by 2010.
He said the PNOC was presently talking with two companies, one American and one French, for second generation biofuels technology.
"PNOC-AFC has scheduled talks and technology due diligence in upstate New York next month.
"If this technology lives up to expectations, and we have had ongoing exchanges for nearly six months, we are seeing another avenue of opportunities opened for more rural development and agriculture-anchored and alternative fuels and power production," he said.
At the MAP International CEO Conference yesterday, Eliseo B. Santiago, Shell vice-president for retail sales and operations for the East, emphasized that there was a lot of plant waste in the country such as palay stalks and pineapple tops.
"Using these instead of the food part of the plant is definitely a good thing. There is an availability of resources," he said.
When commercialized, the cost of second-generation biofuels has the potential to be more comparable with standard gasoline and diesel, he said.
Used at 100% concentration, second — generation biofuels could also reduce carbon dioxide production by up to 90%, and so have the potential to be the most cost-effective route to renewable, low-carbon energy for road transport, said Mr. Santiago, a former local country manager.
Shell was one of the first to invest in second-generation biofuels, he said.
In 2002, it invested in Iogen Corporation, a Canadian company, to develop a processing technology that converted straw into cellulose ethanol via enzymes.
Cellulose ethanol, when processed further, can be used in a blend for conventional cars. In 2006, a joint study by Shell, Volkswagen and Iogen confirmed that cellulose ethanol offered the potential for 90% better carbon dioxide performance than conventional ethanol and could also be more cost competitive with standard petrol.
Shell has also invested in CHOREN Industries in Germany to create the world's first demonstration-scale biomass-to-liquids (BTL) plant that is due to come on-line in late 2007. Here, the research partners will try to "gasify" wood chips and in a process called Shell Middle Distillates Synthesis, converting it to a high-quality synthetic fuel.
BTL Fuel can be readily blended with diesel. It offers substantially reduced local emissions without compromising performance — if used at 100% concentration it could cut well-to-wheels carbon dioxide production by 90% compared with conventional diesel.
"We are in countries where the technology is [offered], but we might look at the Philippines for the commercial distribution of this fuel," Mr. Santiago said.
Second-generation biofuels however, will not be available in significant commercial quantities for five to 10 years, Shell states on its website.
Shell has been distributing first-generation biofuels — from edible feedstock like corn and wheat — for over 30 years.
On its website, Shell claims it is now the world's largest distributor of transport biofuels: in 2006, it sold over 3.5 billion liters, mainly in the USA and Brazil, enough to avoid over 3.5 million tons of CO2 production.
