SEAWEEDS.
Those slimy and otherwise unsightly plant-like organisms that are frequently washed ashore may be one of the country’s last hopes to be less dependent on imported fuel.
Sen. Edgardo Angara, who chairs the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering (Comste) recently announced that his group along with the Department of Science and Technology, is partnering with the Korean government in initiating seaweed biofuel cooperative ventures in the provinces of Aurora, Quirino and Isabela in Luzon and Bohol in the Visayas.
A Korean firm has already developed a marine farm in Talibon town in Bohol and and to jumpstart the project the same firm is planning to put up a US$150-million (P6.9 billion) facility for seaweed-based ethanol extraction, biomass power generation and organic fertilizer production.
Angara explained that unlike the ethanol derived from sugarcane or corn, seaweed-derived ethanol is cheaper to produce and much less is required to make the biofuel, making it an ideal candidate for large-scale production.
Ethanol is blended into automotive gasoline to increase octane rating and to reduce certain environmentally undesirable emissions from the automotive engines.
No pre-treatment
Unlike the ethanol derived from sugarcane or corn, seaweed-derived ethanol does not contain lignin that impedes in the processing of sugar conversion to usable fuel. As a result no pre-treatment is needed before it can be turned into ethanol.
The resulting ethanol could be directly added to the gasoline used in cars without engine modification.
All modern non-diesel cars are certified to run on the most common blend of ethanol, called E10, which is about 90 percent gasoline and 10 percent ethanol by volume (E85, a much higher ethanol blend of about 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, is only for vehicles specifically designated “flex fuel”).
Cost efficient
Seaweed is proving to be more cost efficient and advantageous than other sources of biofuel like sugarcane and corn, which are currently the more popular sources of biofuels (by the way, biofuels are fuels derived from biological materials, which are renewable and more environment-friendly compared to those derived from petroleum or coal).
“But since every hectare used to cultivate these sugarcane or corn uses one that could grow food—potentially causing food shortages and pushing up prices—there are strong objections to the use of food crops for the production of fuel,” Angara said.
Indeed cultivating seaweeds is more practical as it grows much faster—up to 10 times faster than sugar cane—allowing up to six harvests per year.
Angara believed the use of seaweed as the raw material for biofuel production is expected to draw support even from environmentalists, who recently criticized the use of land-based raw materials as having caused massive deforestation across the world’s tropical forests.
Furthermore, he presented other collateral advantages of cultivating seaweeds:
One of seaweed’s true values is that many strains of the algae could be grown in salt water and thus, their cultivation is not politically sensitive as producing them do not encroach on lands used for food crops
Seaweeds do not require soil, and are already provided with all the water they need, a major advantage over land production of biofuels since water is the most limiting factor for most agricultural expansion, especially at times when there is a threat of water shortage like now.
Seaweed-derived ethanol absorbs seven times more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and, thus, have greater contribution to climate change.
Many biotech companies around the world are already working and have succeeded on using seaweeds to produce ethanol so the groups here in the Philippines have plenty of resources as to which would be most viable here
Useful byproducts
Angara said seaweeds have also many other useful byproducts, such as animal feed, fertilizer, soil conditioner and cosmetics (at present, the Philippines is the world top producer and exporter of processed seaweeds).
The former Agriculture secretary said “a mini agro-industrial complex could spring close to the seaweed farm like poultry and piggery, fruit orchards and vegetable gardens, biopharmaceutical facilities and ecotourism destinations.
“This is a fertile source of livelihood and agri-business investments and the potential for energizing and invigorating poor rural communities is both tremendous and tantalizing,” he considered.
Partnership
Angara said the partnership came into being after the Philippines signed into law Republic Act 9513 or the Philippine Renewable Energy Law in 2008 (which he principally authored).
At the same time, a breakthrough came two years ago when the Korean Institute for Industrial Technology was able to find a way to find a way to extract ethanol from seaweeds.
Interest in seaweeds have grown i recent years because it was calculated that less than three percent of the world’s oceans would be needed to fully use seaweeds as substitute for fossil fuels.
This is equivalent to about 20 percent of the land area that is currently used in agriculture.
“Indeed, the lowly seaweeds can help save the Philippines from the looming power shortage while helping develop the coastal communities by attracting investments for sea farming. This project with Korea is just the beginning of many more international ventures on green energy,” Angara said.
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