UPLB Research and Extension News

The quest for clean, renewable and affordable energy sources has cultivated a growing global demand for biofuels, with more and more countries turning towards biofuel production and use. But the burning issue nowadays is no longer the advent of biofuels but seemingly how it has fueled debates among different sectors and polarized many into the boon
and bane camps.

Criticisms leveled against biofuels certainly abound. Issues like the sustainability of biofuel production and the ever controversial food vs. fuel debate, to name a few, are far too serious to be ignored. To be fair, these problems mainly concern the so-called “first generation biofuels” or biofuels that are produced from food-based feedstocks, like corn and wheat (for ethanol) and soybean (for biodiesel). Fortunately, rapidly evolving research and development has given rise to newer and better biofuel technologies

One of the forerunners of this new generation of biofuels is cellulosic ethanol, a different form of ethanol. Already being produced on a large-scale in many demonstration plants in the
United States, Canada and Europe, cellulosic ethanol has unique attributes and advantages over standard ethanol that makes it an ideal candidate as a “fuel of the future.” But what makes it even more compelling is that the technology could very well be adapted in the Philippines and can actually be developed and harnessed in the very enclaves of the University.

Of all locally grown possible sources of biofuel, sugarcane has emerged as the most immediate and readily-available bio-ethanol source, a UP Los Baños expert said.

UPLB College of Engineering and Agro-industrial Technology (CEAT)-Department of Chemical Engineering Chair and UPLB’s Alternative Energy Research, Development, and Engineering team convenor Rex Demafelis based his assessment on parameters that the team has developed to test the viability of biofuels. These consist of availability of sources, cost-effectiveness of production, optimal use of land, and the impact on communities near the alternative fuel source.

Demafelis said that viability studies looked into the manufacture of other value-added products made from biofuel, such as processed food, handicraft, clothing material, etc. thereby generating other livelihood opportunities.