PNOC unit acquires jatropha oil extractor

To facilitate the development of biofuels, PNOC-Alternative Fuels Corp., a unit of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), acquired recently a set of equipment necessary to extract oil from jatropha.

PNOC-AFC president Peter Abaya said the acquisition is co-funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

“Due to the volatile price of crude oil in the world market, the biofuels arm of state-owned PNOC underscores the need to fast-track the development of biofuels in the country,” he said.

“PNOC-AFC has bought a set of equipment which includes a small-scale jatropha expeller that can process around 120 kilograms of jatropha seeds per hour. The equipment are already with the DOST,” Abaya said.

Aside from the small-scale jatropha expeller, other equipment that were brought to the DOST are the decorticator, biomass feed boiler/steam, steam kettle and filter press.

“In addition, the construction of a jatropha processing facility at the DOST – where the processing of the jatropha fruit, expelling of the seeds, purification of the oil, and trans-esterification will be done for the biofuels production – is set to be completed before the year ends. Aside from this, a biofuel testing and analytical facility will also be put up at the DOST for laboratory analysis of major parameters needed for the evaluation of biofuels production in the country,” Abaya said.

The facilities are a joint collaborative undertaking among the DOST, Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development, Industrial Technology Development Institute and Metals Industry Research and Development Center.

“This only shows that PNOC-AFC’s research and development covers not only the agronomy aspect of jatropha but also on the extraction and processing of oil into biodiesel,” Abaya said.

“We have always been in high spirits since the government has been very supportive of PNOC-AFC. It has not backtracked from developing alternative sources of energy that are abundant in the country to further reduce the country’s dependence on imported oil which has reached a record-high of $140 per barrel in the world market this month,” he added.

The PNOC-AFC and the DOST had a memorandum of understanding in March last year to strengthen themselves as strategic partners in research and development activities on alternative fuels and support the advancement of biofuels in the country.