The Philippines holds a strong potential for the development of the biogas industry because of its promising geographical conditions and accessibility to various feed stocks, industry stakeholders said.
“The Philippines is potentially a major market for biogas given our geographical conditions and our available feed stock resources such as animal manure, agricultural by-products and agro-industrial waste,” said Liborio Cabanilla, Executive Director of the University of the Philippines (UP) Los Banos College of Economics Management and Alumni Foundation Inc (ULPB – CEMAFI).
He added that the improvement of the country’s biogas industry is one way of informing people about the possible benefits of biogas.
Cabinalla also mentioned the advantage of farmers when selling agricultural waste and in producing high-value fertilizer from organic digestion process, saying that this is a good source of financial security.
However, the whole biological process would require the use of high – efficiency technology, said engineer Marcello Barbato of the EnviTec BioGas AG from Germany.
“Our German experience and quality can be easily implemented in this amazing country that needs power and efficient technologies to enhance its growth,” he said.
The First Quezon Biogas Corp. (FQBC) has been producing green energy with the help of a poultry farmers’ cooperative in Quezon. Generating a huge quantity of chicken manure in their farms was a huge concern for commercial poultry owners in their area.
FQBC’s biogas facility will use an initial 14,000 metric tons of chicken manure a year from poultry farms and rice straws in Quezon province.
“Biogas is changing our perspective of work and our life in Quezon province giving us the chance of developing further our main business, poultry farming while generating green energy. We solved a problem and found a lucrative venture along the way,” FQBC president Andy Alquiros said.
Biogas energy is generated from natural degradation caused by fermentation of organic matters. It does not cause greenhouse emissions and is not dependent on climate factors.
