Tags: Renewable Energy
By Alexander Villafania
TAGUIG CITY, METRO MANILA – Department of Science and Technology (DoST) secretary Mario Montejo said that the billion-peso jatropha biofuel development project should have been subjected to pilot testing.
Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras recently referred to billion-peso jatropha project as a total waste by the previous administration of former President Gloria Arroyo,
In a statement, the DoST secretary said that previous administration failed to conduct a pilot test wherein jatropha production could be done in a smaller scale, which includes planting, harvesting, oil extraction and conversion.
Montejo also noted that the DoST recently concluded a pilot production test of jatropha, proving the technical feasibility to convert jatropha oil to methyl ester, which is what fuels vehicles.
The jatropha production was started during the time of former President Arroyo, who sought for alternative fuels using locally available materials. DoST entered a joint-partnership with the Philippine National Oil Company-Alternative Fuels Corporation (PNOC-AFC) to establish the Jatropha Biodiesel Processing Facilities.
The PNOC-AFC has already used more than half of the P1 billion budget.
“However, technical feasibility is sometimes different from commercial viability because it involves other issues. The proper scientific protocol in programs involving new technologies such as this is to conduct first a pilot-test and a thorough evaluation of its results to prove its viability before rolling it out,” Montejo said.
He added the DoST is not currently pursuing further programs related to jatropha, effectively halting the entire jatropha program. The DoST will only pursue the completion and evaluation of previous results.
Jatropha is a type of tree or shrub that produces inedible fruits but whose seeds are used to produce oil that can be converted into methyl ester, which is used as biodiesel. Experiments in different countries have yielded various results as to the efficacy of jatropha for fuel.
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JATROPHA OIL IS VIABLE!!! There is hope to save this P1.4 billion project!
Jatropha is the best source of BIO-FUELS because it does not compete food production and has the highest oil yield among other crops. We buy back JATROPHA SEEDS at P11 per kilo immediately!
We produce, manufacture and distribute BIOPETROL, BIO DIESEL, BIO JETFUEL, BIO HEAVY FUEL, among others, that has passed the standards of other countries already.
If the Aquino government will support us, we can reduce the dependence of fuel importation, save the high costs of oil explorations and refineries. Most of all, people in the countryside will have a sustainable and high source of income from planting. With our supergene Jatropha seeds, a farmer can earn a minimum of P11,000 per month per hectare which they can start harvesting 6 months from planting, EVERYDAY, up to 50 years. Visit the FACEBOOK Page of BIONAS PHILIPPINES!!!
PNOC-AFC intellectuals did not conduct a study. Maybe they did, but in their laboratory where the real essence of viability is vague!
When will Mang Juan harvest or pick up the seeds of Jathropa and make money then realize that he’s not just utilizing the tree’s leaves for his recurrent headache due to insufficient and limited food for a living?
I live in a province where jathropa is used for fencing purposes only. Wouldn’t it be considered a plantation if the landowners make use of jathropa as a perimeter fence? Certainly that will become a plantation because marginal lands are almost equal to agri lands! Imagine that even just the half of those marginal lands will be planted with jathropa. How much revenues will be generated? How much revenues will be pocketed?
PNOC-AFC might have forgotten that you can’t multiply algae on marginal lands. Why not show your studies showing that jathropa is not viable?
There are still thousands of indigenous people in the mountains who have never seen how a compact fluorescent lights even with that epira law. If the government can’t make use of the river for a Hydroplant to generate electricity, when will it have the initiative to use jathropa biodiesel to run electric generators? To watch the trending impeachment trials? To watch the senators and congressmen with their mind-blowing debates?
Our dear lawmakers, you might as well interested whose pocket this 10-digit accidentally dropped.