Sugarcane gasoline at only P27 per liter

One of four dozen major bills clogged in the Senate (although passed by the House of Representatives nine months ago) is for bio-fuel incentives. If passed, it would give tax breaks and soft loans to makers, sellers and fleet users of gasoline and diesel alternatives. No other measure than the Bio-Fuel Bill clearly points the way out of uncontrollably skyrocketing crude oil rates.

Bio-fuels are renewable energy sources because coming from plants. Large-scale farming and processing makes them cheap. Moreover, they are cleaner than so-called refined gasoline and diesel. Local manufacture also saves dollar reserves.

Bio-diesel from coconut is not new to the Philippines. Right after the War when provinces were struggling to reconstruct, jitneys converted from military jeeps used coconut oil because "real" diesel was scarce. But half a century of cheap and abundant crude oil eased coconut fuel out of filling stations. Only the recent hop of China onto the global merry-go-round, accompanied by insatiable thirst for diesel, did coconut become important once again. Today two big factories in Quezon province, the hub of coconut trading, press bio-diesel for blending of up to 20 percent with imported brands.

With the Philippines propped up by millions of coconut trees, bio-diesel should be cheap. But it is not, because most of the coconut harvest goes to copra exports. Since coco bio-diesel’s reintroduction in 2002, makers have been begging the government for help in encouraging farmers to sell to them instead of to coco-chemical exporters. For now, their retail price hovers at P65 a liter, higher than almost P40 for imported diesel. But vehicle owners experiment with the coco-diesel nonetheless because of testimonials that it burns better even at only 1-2 percent blend (one-half to one liter for every 50-liter full-tank). That means higher fuel efficiency at lower emissions. Such blends are available from pumps at Flying V stations.

Gasoline from sugarcane also is not new to the Philippines. "Alcogas" was a craze in the sugar plantation regions of Negros and Panay in the ’70s, during an oil shortage from Middle East tensions. Many vehicle engines knocked, however, because the ethanol processing was impure, and buyers used it pure instead of blended with imported gas. Alcogas became synonymous with dirty fuel.

Brazil altered ethanol’s image, however, by perfecting the processing 15 years ago. Although an oil producer, Brazil believed in conserving its gas reserves and the environment. Experiments with sugarcane enabled it to come up with 85-percent blends and 100-percent pure "gasohol", with minor modifications in engines and fuel lines. Thailand then produced its own gasohol from cassava, and the US and Europe from corn. A fifth of US corn harvests is now used for fuel; Brazil’s consumer prices continue to drop because of cheap ethanol and, consequently, food and transportation.

Initial tests in the Philippines show that sugarcane gasohol can retail at only P27 per liter. If so, this would be half the expected jump of gasoline prices to P52-P55 per liter by October.

Local makers, devoid of incentives for large-scale R&D, are playing it safe with only a 10 percent blending with imported gasoline. Ten percent was also the standard that carmakers agreed on as far back as 1985 for all car and truck models. Selected Shell and Seaoil stations sell that 10-percent blend labeled as E-10.

Fuel prices dramatically would drop if gasohol makers are able to produce good 85-percent blends or 100-percent pure gasohol from the local sugarcane varieties. This would require changing rubber fuel lines and steel tanks with a certain type of plastic that does not corrode. Tricycle and jeepney fares, especially for gasoline Multicab types in Visayas and Mindanao, would thus drop even if crude prices continue to spike. But that is one area where the incentives from a Bio-Fuels Act would come in handy. Fleet operators would be able to get low-interest loans.

Like coconut bio-diesel, sugarcane gasohol is environment friendly. Tests show lower emissions, coupled with higher mileage and better fuel burning.

The promised boons of gasohol would require the erection of at least two dozen processing plants nationwide. But at P1.5 billion per plant, that’s easier said than done. The Bio-Fuels Bill, however, would offer incentives to investors. That’s why its author, Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri, laments the Senate’s failure to give it priority over investigations in aid of reelection.

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