Wednesday, February 22, 2006
US firm eyes Sarangani for fuel production project
ALABEL, Sarangani -- A US-based producer of biofuel using e-grass plant has signified intentions of investing in this province.
In a paper submitted to the Provincial Investment and Promotion Center, the Biomass Investment Group (Big) wanted to put up a processing plant that would extract synthetic gas from the e-grass plant.
"Big will be investing in your community and plans to rent 11,000 hectares of land for an e-grass plantation," the paper stated.
The firm, with corporate headquarters in Florida, offers as much as $400 (around P20,000) per hectare per year for farmers who would be leasing their lands to the project.
Big said it would pay the farmers five years in advance for leased lands.
For the first year and rent alone, the company is expected to shell out over P200 million for plantation development of e-grass target area.
E-grass, largely unknown in the Philippines, grows like bamboo, spreading its roots and producing a number of new shoot, according to the paper.
It requires about 25 inches of water every year to survive, could thrive in brackish water, and uses minimal amount of nutrients from the soil.
Mature stalks grow to an average height of 20 feet and an average diameter of one inch.
At the end of the growing season, plants are harvested similar to sugar cane.
E-grass, which is also a good material for making paper, is considered a high-yield perennial herbaceous crop that could be harvested twice a year.
Fuel could be produced out of e-grass through a process called gasification, a thermo-chemical process in which the solid biomass is converted in a vapor known as synthetic gas.
Big's activities began in 1998, after founding chairman Allen Sharpe concluded that production of large-scale dedicated energy crops and conversion into clean energy is the best large-scale renewable energy option available in the southeastern US.
According to the firm, e-grass could not only produce transportation fuel but also be converted into electricity. (RBS)
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(February 20, 2006 issue)
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