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Monday, April 21, 2008
Biz group to convert waste into electricity
By Karl Ombion and Gil Alfredo Severino
BACOLOD CITY -- The Metro Bacolod Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MBCCI) has started plans to convert tons of garbage of the city into a useful and environment-friendly source of electricity.
Jose Ma. Zayco, MBCCI vice president for external affairs, officially signed the memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Philippines Bio-Sciences Corporation Inc. (Phil-Bio) for a feasibility study on the potential of the old dumpsite in Barangay Magsungay to generate enough methane to produce electricity.
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As per the MOA, MBCCI will host, maintain, and supervise the old disposal facility, which will accept organic fraction of municipal solid waste from several sources like Bacolod and other localities, while Phil-Bio will use its patented 'ReSTORE' or the waste-to-energy technology, which involves solid waste management and methane recovery from organic fraction of the municipal solid waste. This technology also works to develop a biogas digester facility.
Zayco also said a team from Phil-Bio will conduct sampling in the area and submit it for laboratory analysis to the main office of the company in Metro Manila. This will be done to determine the volume of methane deposit in the old dumpsite and how much potential electricity it could generate.
Phil-Bio promised to finish the feasibility study within 77 days and is hopeful that a bio-gas-based electric power plant at the old dumpsite would eventually be utilized, Zayco said.
"In a way, after 77 days, garbage collection problems would be a thing of the past and after field testing of the facility, Phil-Bio could collect garbage coming from the entire Negros Island," Zayco said, adding that "the MBCCI-Phil-Bio-Gripp partnership is a private sector initiative aimed at helping local government units (LGUs) solve some of their problems."
According to Zayco, the project aims to duplicate the biogas power plant in Cebu, although the one targeted for construction in Bacolod is planned to generate more electricity. "The group is aiming for a 500-kilowatt electricity for the initial stage but, if possible, they are targeting around two megawatts of electricity."
The MBCCI has expressed hopes its project will help solve the garbage problem in Bacolod and other LGUs for free.
"Bacolod is producing around 250 tons of garbage a day and 50 percent of it is biodegradable, which could be used for generating electricity through methanization," Zayco stressed.
He said that for the initial phase of the project, the facility would just need around 50 tons of segregated garbage a day to generate the targeted 500-kilowatt output.
MBCCI is presently negotiating the project with the Bacolod City Government, which would implement garbage segregation. He added that only biodegradable trash would be used to generate electricity.
The city, meantime, is currently negotiating with the lot owner of the dumpsite in Barangay Felisa. The city has been warned that the dumpsite, which has reached its full capacity, would be closed if the local government would not negotiate for a new dumpsite.
Zayco also said that a biogas power plant would help ease the shortage of power distributed by the Central Negros Electric Cooperative (Ceneco) and would also provide livelihood for scavengers or scrap collectors.
Ceneco, through its president Roberto Montelibano Jr., recently signed a MOA with First Farmers Holding Corporation for a power sales contract, using the environment friendly biomass power plant of the sugar mill. (Sun.Star Bacolod/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pampanga. (April 21, 2008 issue)
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