The Latest Jatropha Curcas News, Updated Hourly
Philippines launch vehicle testing facility for jatropha fuel
Added 54 days ago - A P100-million Vehicle Testing Research Laboratory (VTRL) has been put up to test the technical viability of the jatropha methyl ester (JME) which has so far gone through successful pilot testing at the Industrial Technology Development Institute (ITDI).
The VTRL testing is part of the plan to finally commercialize JME that will boost the country's supply of biofuel in light of the plan to raise the biofuel mix with diesel to five percent from the present two percent, according to Department of Science And Technology (DoST) Undersecretary Graciano P. Yumul Jr.
The VTRL will test the JME on buses and other vehicles and will determine fuel consumption, vehicle speed, and other parameters of technical viability as how CME has gone through more than five years ago. The VTRL is operated by the University of the Philippines-College of Engineering in partnership with the ITDI-DoST and Department of Energy (DoE).
"We already have many jatropha plantation nationwide. Ultimately it will be a source of clean energy and will also come out cheaper.
We're not only after energy security, but this is also addressing environmental concerns and issues on social equity," said Yumul in an interview during an Investors' Forum.
With an environment-friendly fuel that can substitute CME, the country's coconut supply can be channeled for other high-value products specially for food security. JME production will also create jobs in the countryside.
While there are no big companies yet that has seriously expressed interest to invest in a large-scale JME manufacturing plant similar to how Chemrez or Senbel took up the CME technology, companies like the Philippine Alternative Fuel Corp., a subsidiary of the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), has been supporting the development of JME.
The ITDI-DoST is determining a commercialization scheme for JME under which an interested investor should have a plantation to source jatropha from or should have a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with a jatropha plantation owner in order to ensure the continuous supply of jatropha oil.
Full Article from Source
