Sugarcane Areas in Phils to Expand for Bioethanol Production

The Philippines is set to increase the total sugarcane area for bioethanol production to meet the requirement under the Biofuels Act on the blending of crop-based alternative fuels with gasoline by 2009. The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) of the Department of Agriculture (DA) has already validated a total of 60,250 hectares of new sugarcane areas that can produce a combined 274 million liters of bioethanol. These new sugarcane farms,  together with the 38,500 hectares of existing sugarcane farms, are expected to provide raw materials sufficient to meet the country's bioethanol requirements.

"These new areas for sugarcane will produce more than enough bioethanol needed to meet the 2009 requirement of 255 million liters," DA Secretary Arthur Yap said during a recent agricultural forum in Cagayan de Oro City. "We need about 10 refineries with at least 30 million liters annual capacity to produce this volume." In compliance with Republic Act 9367 or the Biofuels Act, all diesel engine fuel are to be pre-blended with 1% coco biodiesel. This blending ratio will double to 2% by February 2009. The law also requires that a minimum of 5% of ethanol be pre-blended with gasoline by February 2009, with the ratio doubling to 10% by February 2011.

To read more, visit http://www.da.gov.ph/.