Flying V, TIP to test 20% CME blend

Flying V has forged a partnership with the Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP) to test the possible use of 20 percent coco-methyl ester (CME) in vehicles.

Based on the agreement, biodiesel pioneer Flying V and TIP, one of the country’s leading technical schools, will establish the Institute for Advance Biofuel Research (FV-IABR) at the TIP-Taguig campus.

Flying V chairman Ramon F. Villavicencio said the passage of the Biofuels Act  would spur the movement for energy independence by mandating progressively higher blends of biofuels.

“There is therefore a great need for an institution to initiate and/or undertake in cooperation or collaboration with other institutions, for the advanced study, research, and tests on biofuels,” Villavicencio said.

Under the agreement, FV-IABR will maintain a database, a library and biodiesel testing facilities. The institute will eventually tap the country’s top academe and industry experts on biofuels.

TIP, in partnership with Nihon University, Japan’s largest university, released in 2005 one of the most authoritative and conclusive studies on biodiesel, which was presented at the Japan Society of Automotive Engineers and to the Department of Trade and Industry’s Bureau of Product Standards.

FV-IABR president Paul Tanjutco said preparations are already underway for the institute’s first project for the testing of B20.

Tanjutco said upon the conclusion of the tests and product certifications, Flying V’s TUP-Taguig biofuel center and its biofuel center in Philcoa, within the Philippine Coconut Authority compound, will test-market the product in vehicle fleets.

Project partners include TUP, Filipino Car Foundation, and Somida Motors Corp. A memorandum of cooperation, Tanjutco said, will be signed by officials of the Department of Energy (DOE).

For his part, Energy Undersecretary Mariano Salazar said the project is a welcome development. “The DOE strongly endorses the project as a boost to the energy independence objective of the biofuels law,” he said.

Flying V initiated the lead in the use of one percent blend of biodiesel in its pumps since Aug. 2005, way ahead of the implementation of the Biofuels Act of 2007.