Philippines pushes for biogas energy with agro waste feedstock

A Rice Straw to Biogas (R2B) facility, developed by UK based Straw Innovations Ltd, has been launched and is starting operations in Laguna province, Philippines.

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According to Straw Innovations, it aims to make better use of Asia’s leftover rice straw with an integrated process it developed that will use this vast resource to produce more food, fuel and green construction materials.

Touted as the world’s first of its kind plant, the R2B project will utilise leftover rice straw to produce clean energy (biogas), fuel, and fertiliser through an anaerobic digestion process.

In July last year, it was reported that a local First Quezon Biogas Corp, a local company fully owned by a farmers cooperative,  together with Singapore-based Yamato Technologies Pte Ltd partnered on constructing a US$9.7-million biogas plant sited at Candelaria, Quezon province.

The 1.2-MW plant utilises agro waste feedstock such as, rice straws, as well as chicken manure to produce clean energy to add to the requirement load of the Luzon grid.

The project also involved ABB Ltd, a Swiss-Swedish multinational technology company to power the biogas facility.

ABB delivered and installed a unit of 2.5-MVA transformer, and housed it within its proprietary EcoFlexe House solution, which has been designed and tested to protect electrification products from harsh environments, it said.