Tanduay unit gets $2-M Japanese grant

Absolut Chemicals  Inc., a wholly-owned distillery unit of Tanduay Distillers Inc., has secured a $2-million grant from  Japan’s largest trading company, Mitsubishi Corp.,  to fund the upgrade of its wastewater management facilities in Lian, Batangas.

The upgrade will involve the adoption of a clean development mechanism (CDM) wherein a state-of-the-art anaerobic digestor  will be built to collect biogas from wastewater.

Absolut Chemicals president Gerry Tee said the biogas collected from the digestor will be used as a fuel for the distillery’s boiler and will reduce its consumption of bunker fuel by 40 percent. The facility is expected to be completed either in 2008 or  2009.

The daily volume of wastewater at Absolut Chemicals is approximately 780 cubic meters per day.“This project is the first and largest CDM project in the Philippines’ private and manufacturing sector and is expected to be operational within next year. This project further highlights the commitment of Tanduay Distillers and the Lucio Tan Group of Companies to environmental protection, sustainable development and corporate social responsibility,” Tee said.

The CDM is being undertaken under the United Nations — sponsored Kyoto Protocol signed in 1995 by more than 170 countries and organizations. Under the Protocol, developed countries must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by at least  five percent of their 1990 emission levels.

As an alternative compliance mechanism, developed countries are allowed to invest in projects in developing countries that will reduce greenhouse emissions. Once verified by a UN-designated body, the emission reductions are translated into carbon credits which can be used as compliance to the agreed emission reduction targets or sold to other entities that are in need of CERs.