Aboitiz, Gazasia to build $50-M biogas plant

MANILA, Philippines - Aseagas, the joint venture company of the Aboitiz Group and Gazasia Ltd. of the United Kingdom, is building a $50- million biogas plant in Lian, Batangas, its top official yesterday said.

In a briefing yesterday, Aseagas president and chief executive officer Sabin Aboitiz said the “green project” is going to be the biggest biogas plant in Asia.

The plant would produce carbon neutral fuel in the form of liquid bio methane (LBM). It would utilize the organic waste of Lucio Tan-owned Absolute Distillers Inc., a subsidiary of Tanduay Holdings Inc. through an effluent waste supply agreement signed in September.

Carbon neutral fuel has no negative impact on the environment.

“The first plant we’re putting up right now is the biggest plant in Asia. We’re going to pick the wastewater effluent of Tanduay Distillery, take out the methane, we split the methane and the CO2… the methane we can now sell that to cars to be used instead of diesel. So the (organic) LNG (liquefied natural gas) we will use it for fuel for cars.

The company would sell the product to commercial vehicles fleets and public transport running on gas engines.

Toward this end, the company would be constructing re-fuelling stations in strategic areas where its commercial clients are located.

The Department of Energy had awarded Aseagas its Renewable Energy Service and Operating Contract for the Batangas Plant in September last year. The department grants incentives to such projects based on the Renewable Energy Law.

Aseagas chief operating officer Juan Alfonso said the start of construction of the plant is set for June with full plant completion targeted at end -2015.

Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV) disclosed in June 2012, that it had inked a memorandum of agreement with Gazasia to “jointly develop, construct and operate plants that will convert organic waste into carbon-neutral, sustainable and renewable fuel for vehicles in the form of liquid bio methane.”

The liquid bio methane process takes methane from landfills or organic waste, cleans the gas then liquifies this into fuel for vehicles similar in specification to LNG but made from 100-percent organic material.

The plant would have an annual capacity of 9,000 metric tons of biomethane, which could fuel 200 buses or heavy trucks per year.

Aseagas is an alternative fuel company providing waste-to-fuel solutions. Its core purpose is to help improve the air quality of cities by providing sustainable, green transport solutions, utilizing waste that would otherwise be left to pollute the environment.