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An energy independent Philippines?

Philippine Progress / by

Could the Philippines be energy independent?  Could it even go further and become an energy exporting country?  Although I doubt that could happen, it would seem that the country could make a stride in that direction with an invention that is being put to the test here in the Philippines.

This invention makes it possible to convert used plastics into fuel – diesel, gasoline and other forms of fuel.  Amazing, huh?  It is to me, as I had never heard of such a process before.  Upon reflection, though, it makes sense, since plastic is a product of petroleum, which is also the basis for most of our fuels.

The plant that is processing plastics into fuel is located in Rodriguez, Rizal Province.

Check this YouTube Video which shows more information about the process:

Pretty interesting, don’t you think?

Well, this could actually serve two great purposes:

  1. Decrease the need to import petroleum.
  2. Help clean up the tons of plastic waste that litter the country.

Both of the benefits shown above could be a major step forward for the Philippines, as both fuel importation and litter of plastics are big problems for the country.

Another thing comes to mind.  I have read stories in the past about how there are entrepreneurs in China that actually purchase garbage from the first world countries, and ship it in barges to China, where they sort it and recycle it.  Many of the people who do this are doing it on a very large scale, and are very wealthy.  Why couldn’t the Philippines ship in huge barges of plastic waste from all over the world and use it to make gasoline and diesel?  This assumes, of course, that the conversion process actually works as shown on the video.

If the Philippines were to get into importing waste plastic, it would also allow some other benefits to be realized:

  1. Cut way back on the amount of material being placed into landfills worldwide.
  2. Allow these “plastic refineries” to be built all over the Philippines and provide employment for the Filipino people.
  3. Such importation on a large scale could actually help the country become energy independent and possibly even allow the fuels to be exported, making a great export item to earn money for the country.
  4. The added employment could allow the country to keep more of it’s workers home instead of having to export people around the world as OFWs.

So, what do you think?  Have you heard of this before?  Do you think it is something the Philippines should pursue on a larger scale?

Will the Philippines become the Saudi Arabia of Plastics?  Here’s something else to think about… maybe this could also put an end to brownouts that are rampant in the Philippines!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  7. What’s the net on Carbon? Are there any bad byproducts? Sounds great if it’s not making some kind of worse pollution. I flew with a guy from Minneapolis to Taipei and his family makes some kind of plasma dealy that breaks the recycleds into “base elements”. Told me it actually produced energy while running. For some reason, it couldn’t be sold in the US, but they were selling gangbusters in China. I guess I should look it up. Hope this invention is great!

    • Hi Jeff,

      Probably cant sell it in America because it would be direct competetion with the fuel industry and take money out of the politicians pockets… and profits away from the oil and auto companies… Think the rest of the worlds gov’t are corrupt,HA! the US has them beat they just hide it much better.

  8. Nice job Bob1

    My how I love our beach here in Roxas. But my my my how I hate the trash and plastic that these folks just leave behind. How disgusting. I would like to think this could solve this filthy problem.

    • I was in Iloilo around January to attend a funeral. I’ve seen a lot of stuff, both in Mexico and here, but.. I was really taken for a loop when I saw how the local cemetery had been used as the dump-site for all the garbage. Not just ‘littering’.. it was piles and piles of garbage on top of the graves and sepulchers no different than a dump. It was heartbreaking.

  9. Hi Bob,
    Great invention if it can be rolled out nationally. I hope that happens.
    Reminds me of the old adage “One mans junk is another mans treasure”.

    On a side note;
    Zhang Yin is not only the richest self made women in China, but the World. She started out buying up old boxes and cartons for recycling, she is now the worlds biggest importer of used cardboard boxes.
    Take care,
    Chas.

    • Hi Chas – Zhang Yin, that’s the person I had read about! Thanks for refreshing my memory. How about a Filipino who could do it with plastics!

  10. If the Chemistry of fuel produced by this process is comparable to what we put in our tanks everyday, then they are vastly underselling this. I see a business opportunity for those who can afford it. P4,000 per TON is what they are currently selling it at. Time to open up a gas station or string of them! Even if it is not exactly what the oil companies produce, surely it would serve as a viable additive like we use Ethanol for.

  19. I don’t understand why the lack of solar! You bring up a great pointon the bottles. I’m big into sustainability and it’s part of my job in corporate real estate. We have several waste to energy sites that we partner with and the trash is burned to make Electricty.

    • Hi Dirk – Solar is expensive to get started. Think about, even in the States, the govt offers tax incentives if you get solar. They don’t have anything like that here, so buying the panels and everything is expensive.

      • Good point, I was thinking the cheap labor side of manufacturing and installing. I was also thinking my in laws bahay kubo which has 2 lights, a fan and radio. During the rice harvest or when the kill a pig, they run the fridge.

        • Problem is, that is not the typical household in the Philippines anymore. 😉 There is some solar usage in such situations, but limited. Also, for a family using that minor amount of energy, the savings that solar would bring would be practically nothing. It is the bigger consumers of energy that could lead to huge savings.

          • I’ve looked into solar power for our place in Nueva Vizcaya. Initial cost for a solar/wind hybrid system is $20,000. That is supposed to power several lights, a refrigerator, air conditioner, a tv, and a computer. Not sure that it will be worth the cost. More practical may be several solar powered gadgets. I have a solar electric fence system. Thinking also of a solar water pump.

            The diesel from plastic sounds good. Just like any other industry, recycling only works well when folks all along the chain of supply, manufacture, and delivery can earn money.

            Take care,
            Pete

    • In regards to solar, I remember looking into that for my home in CA. Even with the government subsidies I calculated that it would take me almost 4 years to recuperate my own up-front costs (not counting replacing cells, maintenance, etc.) by way of savings from my electric bill. Solar would not eliminate, it would only reduce the cost of my monthly usage.

      I also listened to a radio show where a university paid a consultant to design solar panel placement for the campus as a way of saving money. Even with a million-dollar budget and the latest technology.. due to cloud cover, shadows from trees, buildings.. the amount of electricity generated was only enough to keep five lamp-posts lit for approximately a week. That’s what the campus got for all it’s money. o.O

  21. Wow …. Hope it works out … then I can still take my groceries home in plastic bags from the grocery store hahahaha…Seriously though.. would be great if developed farther

    • Hi Lenny – Recently, Davao switched to requiring that the stores use biodegradable plastic bags. I was thinking that it would not be necessary to go to the extra costs if this program was fully implemented!

  22. I have a good friend in this business here in the US, recycling plastic. At the moment, much of it is staying here. The China market softened. I will bounce this off him to see if it makes economic sense.

  29. I found an article that says this process is also being done in Portland, OR and Ireland as well. Some other companies have been at this since even 2009. They say the cost of producing a barrel of diesel comes to about $52. But that’s just overhead, without any profit margin worked in. So the trick has been to get investors since it’s only a profitable idea if either (a) they can produce it below $40 a barrel or (b) the world market price rises.

    But someone did make a good comment about, what if the cost of making this fuel is tons of carbon pollution released into the atmosphere in the Philippines? Or pollutes the water? That would not be a good thing at all. I guess we’ll have to just wait and see how it turns out.
    http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/thinking-tech/bye-bye-imported-oil-new-tech-converts-junk-plastics-into-fuel/7516

    • That article you linked to is about 2 years old, Henry, and some of the numbers are no longer accurate. For one thing, it says that the pump price for diesel is about $1.25 per gallon, these days it is nearly 4 times that price.

      Also, I don’t know about you, but I have no idea what types of pollutions are part of this process.

      Thanks for your comment.

  30. Bob,
    Sounds like a great idea. Its something that would really give the Philippines a boost and help clean up a lot of the trash. Have a nice day.

  31. Hi Bob,

    I would be more concern about the carbon by-product of these new venture. China has one of the worst air pollution record in the world, and for the Philippines to emulate the same idea could have a detrimental impact on the environment and the population, especially when there is no consistency on the “checks and balances” between governmental agencies and the private sector to minimize pollution. With the Philippines’ burgeoning population and rapid development of infrastructure to meet the growing demands of tourism, this new venture could add to the country’s already fragile eco-system.

    Julius

    • Hi Julius, I don’t think any of us know what the carbon output of the process is, at least I know that I don’t. But think about this… if you have ever been near an oil refinery you will know that they also have a huge carbon output. I used to live in the general area of a refinery. Obviously, every country needs energy. If it is oil based, there is a price to pay. I doubt that using recycled plastic is any worse, but that is only conjecture.

  32. Hi Bob,

    I agree with you. The magnitude of carbon output (and I’m as novice about it as you are) varies between region to region, and the refinery or recycling plants that’s there. I used to be a fish-farmer in the Philippines, along with thousands of other fish-farmers in my region. I still remember the time when I was a young boy, swimming in lakes and rivers that were teeming with catfish and other form of marine life that were indigenous to those waters. Fish-farming back then consists mainly of nets strategically placed near the mouth of river that leads to the ocean. Fish-farmers relied mainly on the current to feed their fish, and supplemented the diet of droppings from a local chicken farm.

    With the advent of box fish-farming, fish-farmers dredge new waterways farther in-land and turned rice lands into fish farms, where heavy use of artificial nitrogen-rich fish meals became the staple for the fish. Fish farmers relied on this method of raising fish because it was more profitable; also, local officials’ interference was non-existence because of the financial reciprocity both sides enjoyed.
    Unfortunately, the long-term consequences of box fish-farming eventually caught up in this industry. Not only did the nitrogen-rich water diminished the marine life in the nearby lakes and rivers, the number and quality of the fish raised in these fish farms also suffered because the water is not given enough time to replenish itself before it is used again. Adding to the complication is the growth of human population in the surrounding areas, who also relied on the fish-farms for their food and livelihood.

    You’re right. There is no easy solution to this problem or other technological advances that could put our environment, and our health, at risk. I just hope that if these plastic recycling plants do come to full fruition, the governing agencies (private or public) in charge of this business venture would be more conscientious of the long-term impact it could have, instead of being blind-sided by the short-term financial benefits.

    Julius

  33. Hi Bob – Call me a skeptic but, in the video, it appears that the plastic “raw material” being used are plastic bags from the dump. I just wonder what becomes of the bags’ contents once the bags are “harvested”?

    There also seems to be a “lot of energy” being used in the process of making the fuels. I wonder whether the “energy employed” exceeds the “energy produced”?

    All things considered, it’s a nice story. Hope the invention is something that can be adapted widely for use.

  34. If it sounds to good to be true then it probably is untrue. I wonder if this is the same people that were promoting the get a 100 mile per gallon invention here in the PH a few years ago with just a couple simple modifications to the fuel lines or carburetor. That being said I would really like for it to work.

  35. I do love the idea of transforming all the waste plastic into diesel, but I don’t think it’s going to be a major disruptor in the energy market.

    The Philippines already has the ability to become 100% energy independent through untapped geothermal energy. The Philippines already ranks #2 in the world (just behind the U.S.) in geothermal energy production. And they still haven’t tapped into all available sources…

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_the_Philippines

    http://www.philippines.hvu.nl/leyte2.htm

    • Hi Cy – The Philippines is tapping geothermal up on Mt. Apo. I suppose there are other sources as well. Still no reason not to pursue other options as well, though. 🙂

  36. I am not trying to be negative or argumentative in any way, but to point out a couple things from here in the US to consider when this is tried.

    A couple of the places that have tried it seem to have a problem getting enough of the trash to operate. If memory serves me Indianapolis IN, and Harrisburg PA, had problems getting enough trash to make it work. Financially, Harrisburg was facing bankruptcy that was blamed on the investment in the plant at the time.

    Kokomo IN with approx. 50K people felt they had too little trash to run a plant.

    Here in north central Indiana, the town I live in of 13K people is looking to put in a pellet type trash burning plant and the investment for that is about $750 million USD.

    My point to all of this, is that it can be a concern to have enough trash to sustain operation in addition to the significant investment to start up. It is good where it works but does have it’s headaches.

    Some of the comments had me looking at the plans printed in the 20’s and 30’s before the rural electrification got underway. They used wind and hydro to charge home electric systems and in rural Indiana where I live and in the Amish country of Ohio where I was raised there are a number still standing. Using the addition of solar to feed the storage would give a well rounded system without the need for one single system to be large enough to handle the whole load.

    I have had recent discussions with a retired engineer for Exide Battery corp about these systems and the use of modern technology to run them. Feel free to contact me at -lcmhsp at earthlink dot net – for discussion.

    Best wishes to all
    LeRoy

    • Hi LeRoy – I agree that it would be necessary to get folks to go all out and be sure to do the recycling. I think it could be done, though.

  37. A big Thanks to the family that think big and discover this things…this would help the whole Country tremendously…yes! watch out Saudi,time will come we no longer defending on your Mercy <3

    • Ah yes, I think I posted an article about this a couple of years ago. It is certainly another thing to do with plastic bottles. Thanks, Stephen.

  43. They do something similar here in Hawaii Bob.. they use trash and convert it to ethanol it is a great way to deal with growing trash problem on the islands. That , wind farms, and solar they are on their way to being energy independent in a few years they say.

  52. I’m toying with the idea of Local Energy Specialization. Looking for 15% solutions for producing energy in your area. Wind, tidal, solar, black algae, geothermal, hydraulic pressure, tidal or solar pumping of water into elevated storage for later release during brownouts.
    Capturing the carbon from the plastic bottle to fuel process for black algae growth could tip the profitability to the positive.
    My point is to find ways to produce 15% of your energy cheaply, low-tech and repeatably. At 15% it can be low yield and low cost to set up. Trying to scale things too large make it impossible to reach profitability.
    On the plastics topic, how about harvesting all that vast amount of plastic floating in the ocean? An offshore plant run by tidal power could chop the plastic into pellets or powder before transport to shore for final processing. Something as simple as a hammer mill run by the rise and fall of the tides and wave action to chop the plastic. Low-tech, cheap and easy to build and maintain.
    As I have driven around Mindanao, I see money laying all over the ground. Money in the form of raw energy that could be used to fuel the imaginations, homes, vehicles and economy of the Philippines — 15% at a time.

  53. hi Bob,
    hope the Philippine government help to pursue that filipino invention, but have doubt then
    one day we can hear there is no available funds for that invention. have great day.

  54. Hi Bob
    There are a number of countries that now produce bio-diesel from waste cooking oil collected from fast-food outlets. Maks one wonder what the car exhaust smells like – burger or chicken?

  55. Thanks for the informative article, Bob. Impressive, inventive “kababayans”! I wished them all good luck hope this thing spread massively for the use to fuel things and can make the inventors a lot of money and all people of the Philippines benefits as well. Thanks!

  56. ADB has been working with the local governments for years to advance eco friendly energy solutions. There is plenty of money, but the local govt do not want the strings attached, so nothing comes of it.

    The PPP are starting to work, but its very slow. ADB did fund a project and gave a lot of electric trikes to Taguig, but the local govt complained that they were not reliable and deferred the maintenance, now the trikes are in the scrap heap. Starting over again with more local business involvement.

    As far as solar goes, had some PE funds for solar companies in PRC, but now most of those have gone bankrupt. Its only practical when oil is over $140 a barrel.

    • The Philippines’ solar power industry can expect a boost with the completion of a solar cell manufacturing facility in Batangas,South of Manila Philippines.

      The new facility being built by First Philippine Electric Corp. (First Philec) is building the wafer slicing plant with Korean firm Nexolon Corporation.

      Once completed, the plant will be capable of producing 400 megawatts worth of solar wafers per year.

      “This is solid proof that government and industry collaboration can work successfully, and that continued investments through Public Private Partnerships (PPP’s) can spur the growth of innovation especially in science and technology,” Angara said in a statement.

      Angara chairs the Congressional Commission on Science Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), where First Philec is a partner.

      Still, Angara said that the government can further encourage local and foreign manufacturers to invest in renewable energy “by creating a hospitable environment through policy, infrastructure and incentive support.”

      First Philec is a partner of COMSTE in developing renewable energy systems, such as the country’s first solar testing facility located in the First Philippine Industrial Park in Tanuan, Batangas.

      The testing facility with a 180 kilowatt on-grid capacity would be capable of testing photovoltaic modules in-house for efficiency and resilience in field conditions, unlike conventional tests done inside controlled laboratory environments.

      Also, the facility would be able to test solar panels for optimal output in tropical conditions.

      On the other hand, Angara noted that SunPower, one of the world’s largest solar manufacturers, already has two solar wafer fabrication plants in the country even if the country’s solar industry is still in its infancy.

      Ernesto Santiago, president of the Semiconductor Electronics Industry in the Philippines, Inc. (SEIPI), another COMSTE industry partner, said the manufacture of electronic components for solar energy production has the potential to generate $28 billion in exports.

      “The potential of the renewable energy industry to create new jobs and business is immense. It can also help reduce our dependence – and expenses – on expensive fuel imports. Renewable energy is a win-win proposition for the Philippines

      • M/S Tûranor Planet Solar: exclusively powered by 38,000 high-efficiency solar cells all produced in the Philippines at the manufacturing facilities of SunPower Corporation, a German-built vessel measures 31 by 15 meters and tips the scales at 85 tons. Over 537 square meters of photovoltaic solar panels provide up to 127 horsepower – enough to keep the craft moving at a constant speed of 14 kilometers per hour.

  57. P3-B power plant’s groundbreaking in Naga: Koreans, Japanese lead ceremonies

    Based on the original plan, the state-of-the-art facility, which will be the first of its kind in the country, will start to operate by the first quarter of 2014.

    The Korea-based CJ Global Inc., the project investor, had already paid 30% of the total cost of the machineries that will be deployed to convert into green energy the city’s pile of daily garbage thru the process called gasification.

    Once operational, the plant is expected to generate eight to ten megawatts of electricity from 100 tons of garbage collected daily. The plant has the capacity to process up to 200 tons of waste to produce 18 megawatts in expanded operations.

    Orozco said that at least 25% of the daily garbage requirement will be sourced from the Balatas dumpsite. “It is not surprising if five or six years from now, the dumpsite is emptied of garbage,” Orozco said.

    http://naga.gov.ph/go/news/environment-news/page/2/