Romblon is an island/province in the Philippines --------------------- Romblon Pioneers in Coco-Methyl Ester Production for Fuel Date: Wednesday, November 20 @ 14:41:05 PHT Topic: Regional News Now it can be told! Romblon䴜s main export is coconut not marble. However, since copra is just the coconut product being exported, exploited and used locally, the full potential of coconut including the other by-products should be tapped for it to contribute significantly to the income of the province. This was the pronouncement made by Cong. Perpetuo B. Ylagan of Romblon during the meeting held in September in Odiongan, Romblon on the implementation of the Cocomethyl Ester (CME) project with other local officials and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) led by the Executive Director of the Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (PCIERD), Dr. Graciano P. Yumul, Jr..
It may not be known to many that from coconut, one of the energy sources that may be produced to increase energy self sufficiency in an environment-friendly manner, is CME. The use of this bio fuel is being pushed in the current Philippine Energy Plan as it is an ideal resource to substitute diesel due to its abundance in the country. Studies show that CME is a good diesel fuel substitute both for stationary and automotive engines. Methyl ester from coconut oil is produced by esterifying coconut oil with methyl alcohol using sodium hydroxide as catalyst, with glycerine as by-product. For years, methyl ester has been produced commercially for use in the chemical industry and until now, there is no existing plant to produce and apply it as fuel. In the meeting, Dr. Yumul said that Romblon was chosen as the site for the implementation of the CME production project because favorable conditions for the project to succeed prevail in this province. Firstly, Romblon is a coconut producer and copra exporter; secondly, there is high demand for diesel and the cost is also high; thirdly, there is proximity to potential CME market; and fourthly, there is no existing coconut processing plant in the area. Studies made by the Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI- DOST) show that CME is a renewable and indigenous source of energy that operates on conventional engines. It is environment-friendly as it has no sulfur, emits less smoke and it is safe to store. With P7million commitment from Cong. Ylagan䴜s Project Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and DOST funding of P4 million, the project will establish a small-scale CME plant in the provincial nursery in Rizal and test the CME fuel produced in a community in Romblon. This will serve a showcase to demonstrate the viability of CME in an island economy with the end in view of replicating the experience in other parts of the country. The plant shall have a capacity of 5000 kg copra per day and is expected to produce 3000 li./day of methyl esters. Other by-products are copra meal which is a raw material for feeds, and glycerine which is high- value raw material in the cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food industries. It is seen that the major benefit that the project will give to Romblon is the stabilization of copra price. To ensure, however, the sustainability of the project, is the need for a private cooperator and the Ugnayan ng mga Kooperatiba ng Romblon has been tapped to run the plant. The other cooperators in the project are the Provincial Government of Romblon, National Power Corporation and the DOST-PSTC Romblon. The strong support of the top leadership in Romblon gives DOST a shot in the arm in conducting its research and development (R&D) projects. DOST believes that it is with this kind of partnership that projects will succeed because just at takeoff, an end user is identified. Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
