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DAVAO CITY—The
inventor of a biofriendly fuel additive made from the
waste of palm oil is rushing to get into a government
list of biofuels and additives authorized for commercial
use.
Bernilo
Pacheco, inventor and president of the additive now
being manufactured by his Formula 2020 International
Corp., said the final list would be closed for this year
in June, but that all the documents required by the
Energy department were ready for submission.
These
requirements include proofs of meeting government
standards for efficiency, emission and viability.
Pacheco said his company, the manufacturer of the first
palm oil bioadditive in the world, could supply the
market with enough of the additive and may soon even
export the product.
He said
the palm oil additive is manufactured from the husk of
the palm kernel, “which is actually considered already a
waste product,” being the remains of the oil extracted
from the kernel. “And after the kernel oil is taken, the
rest, including the husk, are considered waste.”
This
fact makes his discovery quite beneficial to the
environment, since not only is the whole palm kernel’s
use maximized, but it also spares the environment the
burden of unnecessary wastage.
He
revealed that the government had approved as early as
2004 the results of their product test showing it only
takes 0.2-percent mixture for every liter of gasoline or
diesel to achieve similar efficiency as that of coco
methyl ester (CME) mixture of one percent for every
liter of diesel.
While
the CME is mixed only with diesel, the palm oil biofuel
can be mixed with almost all types of fuel— gasoline,
diesel, industrial diesel oil, marine diesel oil, light
fuel oil, and heavy fuel or bunker fuel, according to
Pacheco.
The
production of the additive labeled F2020 can be raised
immediately to 120,000 liters per month but present
sales is still a low 3,000 liters monthly. Their plant
actually has a maximum production capacity of 15 million
liters monthly, which prepares them to expand exports if
needed.
Pacheco
added they already export about 5 percent of current
production or 150 liters to clients: mainly industrial
users such as power, shipping, and transportation
companies spread over
Guam,
India,
Korea, and Taiwan.
He said
about 80 percent of their production goes to “poor
consumers such as tricycle drivers who had found out
they could save as much as 50 percent of their oil
consumption.” There are more than 3 million tricycle
units in the country.
The
current raw material source of their additive are the
palm plantations including the one is Agusan del Sur
operated by the National Development Corp.-Guthrie
Plantations.
Mindanao
has about 300,000 hectares being eyed for additional
palm oil plantations by foreign investors. Even now,
Pacheco said “we have sufficient source of palm oil” and
if more palm plantations investments materialize, “we
are even more assured of raw material supply.” |
