Chemrez bares product for oil spill

Chemrez Inc., the country’s largest producer of coco-biodiesel, has developed a product that would help in the clean-up operation in Guimaras,  a top company official said.

"Our research and development team rushed to develop an oil-cleaning chemical which is non-toxic but effective," Chemrez operations manager Dean Lao Jr. said.

Lao said he had already initiated the shipment of the first batch of the oil-cleaning product to Guimaras. "I went there to personally oversee the application of the product."

He added they are still studying how they could further help ease the misery of the communities affected by the oil spill.

"It (the product) costs P120 per liter but we will contribute one for every five bought. This is our donation to efforts for a clean-up operation," he said.

In May this year, Chemrez inaugurated its P950-million coco-biodiesel plant in Libis, Quezon City which could produce 60 million liters a year of coco-biodiesel. 

It plans to put up a second processing plant, costing about P1.5 billion, which will ideally be located near a seaport or within an economic zone. This will triple the current capacity of Chemrez to 180 million liters a year production.

Potential sites of the second plant, Lao said, could be in Batangas Bay, Subic Bay or Cebu.

Chemrez is a leading manufacturer of colorants, resin, and specialty chemicals in the country.  It has established a bio petroleum unit producing and market ester-based specialty products for automotive use, including fatty acids methyl ester also called as coconut methyl ester, and more popularly known as coco-biodiesel, carrying the brand name BioActiv BD 100.

Established in 1991, Chemrez is a member of D & L Industries Group, a leading provider of colors, chemicals and plastics in the Philippines.