BANI–The Regional Development Council (RDC) has endorsed an integrated biomass project here proposed by a Spanish company as a regional project under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme being promoted by the national government.

Bani Mayor Marcelo Navarro Jr. said with the RDC endorsement, he is confident that the project can be developed next year as one of the PPP projects under the Aquino administration.

The project, with proponent Global Engineering Inc. of Spain, has already attracted three other foreign companies that have expressed interest to join the consortium that will build the P6.5 billion facility.

These include Global Energy, Asia Bio-Mass and a still unidentified company from Singapore.

Global Engineering is proposing to bankroll 30 percent of the project cost by bringing in its technology and equipment while the remaining 70 percent will be offered to other private investors.

The biomass project seeks to generate 8.5 megawatt of power, produce 100,000 liters of ethanol, and generate heat for a palay drier as tall as a three-storey building and a rice mill with corresponding warehousing that could process 17.5 tons of palay per day.

Navarro said the project will spawn the massive planting of sweet sorghum, a vital component of the project, in some 5,500 hectares of rain-fed lands in the 1st District of Pangasinan up to northern Zambales.

IDEAL

He pointed out that the project is ideal in the district where most of the farmlands are rain-fed, planted with rice only during the wet season, and stay idle during the dry season.

Sweet sorghum is a drought-resistant crop and thrives only during the dry months.

Once harvested after three months, the sweet sorghum will produce grains for the flourmill. Its leaves and stalks will be squeezed of juice to produce ethanol, an essential element added to motor oil.

The by-product of the squeezing process is called bagasse, which along with rice husks and other farm wastes, would be fed into a slow-burning plant to produce 8.5 megawatt of power.

The product of the burning process, said Navarro, can be used as plant fertilizers.

Navarro said with the facility, farmers will be able to earn from their sweet sorghum grains and still sell the leaves to the consortium for conversion into ethanol.

The municipality of Bani has already reserved three industrial sites, each with a 100-hectare land area, which could potentially serve as the location of the biomass facility that will be constructed over a 25-hectare portion.

The land will be the municipality’s contribution to the project.

Back to Homepage

Share your Comments or Reactions

comments

Powered by Facebook Comments