THE PNOC Alternative Fuel Corp. (PAFC) has identified 13 jatropha species that produce the desired amount in its search for the alternative biodiesel that is expected to provide an alternative to the expensive fuel based on oil.

The PAFC targets to produce about 5 million liters of biodiesel based on jatropha by 2009.

PAFC president and chief executive officer Peter Anthony Abaya, however, declined to name the 13 oil-rich species they found among the 1.5-million seedlings in the company’s 5-hectare jatropha nursery in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija.

“We cannot give which of these species contain the needed amounts of oil,” Abaya said in a cell-phone interview.

The PAFC has been tending a 500-ha jatropha plantation in Nueva Ecija since the middle of last year while coordinating with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and other research and development agencies to correctly identify the jatropha tree species that could generate more oil.

Its nursery has now about 1.5 million seedlings available for planting in the identified plantation area. “We are aiming to come out with about 5 million seedlings by end of August, and are seeing that we could maintain about 2,000 seedlings ready for planting each year,” Abaya revealed.

Abaya revealed the PAFC had suffered some delays in the early part of its activities in finding the right species of jatropha that have the optimum amounts of oil needed. It found the top 13 species out of the 800 different species the company’s R&D group subjected to tests.

PAFC plantation employs some 270 local planters receiving wages “higher than the required labor cost in the region.”

Abaya said the PAFC’s jatropha production project in Nueva Ecija has been made possible with the company’s memorandum of agreement with the Department of National Defense. He disclosed that the Nueva Ecija project is being replicated in 15 provinces right now.

“We are happy that we help in creating new jobs not only for Nueva Ecija farmers but even in other provinces,” he said.

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PNOC Alternative Fuel Corp. finds 13 jatropha species fit for its biodiesel project

THE PNOC Alternative Fuel Corp. (PAFC) has identified 13 jatropha species that produce the desired amount in its search for the alternative biodiesel that is expected to provide an alternative to the expensive fuel based on oil.