A Study On The Biomass Resources Potential Of Philippines

Roxcella T. Reas
Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department
Eastern Visayas State University

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6779-0815

Email: rytenedero@yahoo.com

A Study On The Biomass Resources Potential Of Philippines

 Abstract

The Philippines being an energy importer, aims to lessen its dependency on imported fuels.
Among the solution being considered is the development of renewable energy in the country.
National policies have been created which aims to promote and accelerate the development,
implementation and utilization of renewable energy. Data from Department of Energy shows that
renewable energy plays a small part in the power generation mix of the country. However, being
known as an agriculture country, a huge potential of biomass source can be harnessed for energy
production in some specific region. Biomass has been defined as organic products derived from
agriculture and forestry. Furthermore, of all agricultural products of produced by the Philippines,
the top products produced are identified to have a significant contribution to biomass energy
resources of the country. This paper accounts the potential of biomass resources from
agricultural residues that can be used for energy production. It is identified that the top
agricultural products of the country have the potential for biomass production. However, the
identified agricultural products with potential for biomass production are mainly produced in
distant regions. Thereby, it entails additional cost and loss of the production of biomass resource.
In addition, this paper also weighs in the economic and environmental impact to the society.
Keywords: Renewable Energy, Biomass, Agriculture
I. Introduction

The Philippines is a tropical archipelagic country in Asia. It has a total land area of almost
300000 sq. km. with most of it are used in the agriculture industry and some are the forested
area. As of 2015, the population of the country is 100.98 million and has an average annual
growth rate of 1.72. Meanwhile, the country has sustained a strong economic growth for the past
five years. With sustained economic and population growth, the energy demand of the island is
expected to increase in the near future.

Figure 1 shows the power consumption in the Philippines. It shows that power consumption for
residential and commercial experience an average annual increase of 6% while 3% for industrial.
The increase in power consumption can be attributed the population and economic growth
experienced by the Philippines. (Philippine Statistics Authority, 2013) In the Philippines,
electricity remains the most common energy source per household. With about 87 percent of 21
million household uses electricity. Other sources of energy per household are fuelwood,
charcoal, LPG, and kerosene. (Brahim, 2014) Energy consumption has seen and will see a
continued growth due to increasing demands in all the industrial, commercial and residential
sectors.

Figure 2 shows that from the past decades, the Philippines energy supply has increased with a
significant amount came from fossil fuels and coal. (Brahim, 2014)Most of the fossil fuels were
imported from the Middle East. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are the highest
importers of crude oil in the Philippines. However, as a net energy importer, the Philippines is in
a vulnerable spot to oil price fluctuation, regional security, and peace and order, geopolitical
dynamics and oil supply disruption. (Vavrova & Jaroslav Knapek, 2015) Similar cases that can
be associated are 1973 oil crisis, 2009 shut down of gas pipelines from Russia due to disputes
with Ukraine. In addition, terroristic activity in some oil producing countries and the frequent
threat of Iran in closing the strait of Hormuz. Such cases may cause an increase in the cost of
energy and the worst may trigger a national energy crisis.

Figure 1Philippine Power Consumption By Sector (Department Of Energy, 2015)

Figure 2Philippine Power Generation By Sources(Department Of Energy, 2015)

Self-sufficiency and sustainable energy source is one of the primary thrust of the country. This
leads to the implementations of policies that will help facilitate the development of renewable
energy. (Brahim, 2014)Among the laws enacted include the Biofuels Act of 2006 and the
Renewable Energy Act of 2008. These laws enable the renewable energy sector to invest in the
energy development of the country. In which these laws address barriers such as upfront and
technology costs, financial packages, and social acceptability. (Biofuel Act of 2006, 2008)
Biofuel Act of 2006 provides a mandate on the use of biofuel-blended gasoline and diesel. It also
provides tax and financial incentives such as specific tax and value added tax to local and
imported biofuel components. In addition, the Department of Science and Technology is
mandated by the Biofuel Act of 2006 to implement research and development program supporting
a sustainable improvement in biofuel production and utilization technology. While the
Department of Energy is mandated to implement the rules and regulations of Biofuel Act of 2006.
(Renewable Energy Act of 2008, 2008) Meanwhile, one of the objectives of the Renewable
Energy Act of 2008 is to accelerate the exploration and development of the renewable energy
resource in order to achieve self-reliance and reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels. It
also provides fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to private sectors that are investing and equipment
manufacturers and suppliers.
Figure 3 shows that last 2015, 44% of the energy source of Philippines came from coal while
renewable energy sources of combined hydro, solar, biomass, and the wind are 11% only of the
total energy mix. (Brahim, 2014) With this, the government aims to reduce the dependency on the
imported energy source. Figure 2 also shows that the Philippines has increased the use of
renewable energy source for power generation and rural electrification. (Department Of Energy,
2015) Data shows from the Department of Energy that since 2011, renewable energy sources of
combined hydro, solar, biomass, and the wind experience an average annual increase of 5%. Last
2011, National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) was launched in which it will provide a
framework for the accelerated development and advancement of renewable energy source.

(Renewable Energy Act of 2008, 2008)Among the renewable energy source identified under
Renewable Energy Act of 2008 but not limited to, biomass, solar, the wind, hydro, geothermal
and ocean energy, including hybrid system.

One of the potential energy sources in the Philippines is biomass. (Baconguis, 2007) Biomass has
been defined as organic products from agriculture and forestry.

Figure 32015 Philippine Power Generation Mix (GWh) (Department Of Energy, 2015)
 II. THE PHILIPPINE AGRICULTURE INDUSTRY
(Philippine Statistics Authority, 2016) Currently, the agriculture sector is accounted for 7.9% of
the country's GDP and is considered as one of the weakest sectors in the Philippine industry.
Some reasons that can be attributed to are due to climatic conditions and disturbances of the
country, inefficient farming practices and technology being used and farmer's entrepreneurial
skills. (Philippine Statistic Authority, 2015) However, last 2014 the gross output in agriculture
grew by 1.40 percent. Among the subsectors, crops recorded the highest production grew rate at
2.5 percent. Production gains were posted by palay at 2.87 percent and corn at 5.33 percent.
(Philippine Statistics Authority, 2016)The major agricultural product of the Philippines is palay,
corn, coconut products, sugarcane, banana, mango, pineapple, coffee, rubber and cassava as
shown in Figure 4. Figure 4 also shows that since 2010 production of agricultural products are
slightly increasing. This slightly annual increase in agricultural production can be attributed to,
an increase in area planted, slightly improving farming practices and adaptation of farming
technologies. However, Figure 4 shows that agricultural production is usually affected by
climatic conditions and disturbances. As an example, in 2013 and 2014 the production of
coconut and sugar cane decreases. This is due to super typhoon Yolanda which devastated the
coconut and sugar cane industry of region VIII, part of VII and VI.(Nations Encyclopedia
(Philippines - Agriculture ), 2010)Another pressing concern that affects the agriculture industry
of the country is the conversion of agricultural land fields to resorts and housing projects,
government financial support, and the continued use of chemical based fertilizer pesticides that
have destroyed the soil productivity over time.

Figure 4Crops:Volume of Production, Philippines 2010-2014

(Philippine Statistic Authority, 2015)
 Figure 5Crops:Area Planted/Harvested, Philippines 2010-2014
(Philippine Statistic Authority, 2015)

III. BIOMASS ENERGY POTENTIAL OF PHILIPPINES

(Philippine Statistic Authority, 2015) (REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9147, 2001)(Republic Act No.
9175, 2002) The Philippines is known as an agricultural country normally produce agricultural
by-products and residues and these residues and by-products may be used to generate energy.
Figure 3 also shows that biomass energy resources are largely untapped. (Baconguis, 2007)
Furthermore, the country is also endowed with an extensive livestock industry that could
contribute to huge biomass potential utilization of the country. (Elauria, Castro, Elauria,
Bhattacharya, & Salam) (Zafar, 2015) Among the top agricultural products produced by the
Philippines, only three crops were identified to have a large contribution to the country's biomass
energy resources. These are rice, coconut, and sugarcane. Although wood fuel and wood
residues may have significant contribution biomass resources. However environmental laws limit
the utilization of such biomass resource (REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9147, 2001)(Republic Act No.
9175, 2002) (Republic Act No. 9175, 2002). (Bhattacharya SC, 2005) The amount of residue
generated annually in a country is equal to the product of the residue-to-product ratio (RPR)
value of any specific residue and the annual production of the crop or product. Figure 6 shows
the country's regional distribution of the potential biomass energy resources.

Figure 62015Potential Biomass Resource Percentage Distribution per Region

(Philippine Statistic Authority, 2015)

Agricultural Residues PRP

Rice husk 0.23
Rice straw 0.10
Coconut Shells 0.15
Coconut husks 0.33
Coconut fronds 0.33
Bagasse 0.33

Table 1
Meanwhile, the energy potential of the agricultural residues from the last two decades as
accounted by J.C. Elauria et.al. are shown in Table 2. From the last two decades, among the
potential biomass energy source, Table 2 shows that bagasse has the highest potential energy that
can be derived to weight ratio. This means that bagasse has the highest potential energy that can
be derived from a specific amount of weight. Bagasse was followed by rice husk, then rice straw
and coconut residues.

Table 2Potential Amount of energy from agri-residues, 1990-2010 (Department of Energy,

2009)
Rice Residues
(Baconguis, 2007) The Filipinos are among the world's biggest rice consumer and it is estimated
that the average annual rice consumption of Filipino is about 100 kilograms. Figure 6 shows that
rice is planted all over the country. It also shows that rice is mostly planted in Cagayan Valley,
Central Luzon, and Western Visayas region. In which those regions attain a double digit in the
percentage distribution. Their combined gross production is more than forty percent. In addition
Figure 6 also shows that these regions have huge biomass resources potential from rice residues.

(Elauria, Castro, Elauria, Bhattacharya, & Salam) Rice husk and rice straw are the two
byproducts of rice production. (Baconguis, 2007) Rice husk is a processing by-product of rice
milling and accounts for about 20 percent of rice production. Its point of source is the rice mills
that are accounted to be more than 12000 rice mill spread throughout the country. On the other
hand, rice straw is field waste after harvesting rice. Last 2015 the volume of the country's rice
husk and straw was estimated to be at 4.34 million tons and 1.9 million tons respectively. While,
Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, and Western Visayas region combined volume of rice husk and
straw was estimated to be at 1.9 million tons and 834000 tons respectively. (Elauria, Castro,
Elauria, Bhattacharya, & Salam) The utilization of rice husk and rice straw are seen to increase
as an alternative source of energy.

Coconut residues
(Elauria, Castro, Elauria, Bhattacharya, & Salam) Coconut residues coconut husk, coconut shell,
and coconut frondare the three prominent by-products of coconut tree. (Baconguis, 2007) The
Philippines a tropical country has the largest number of coconut trees in the world. Forty percent
of these are seen in the Mindanao, specifically in the region of Zamboanga peninsula, Northern
Mindanao, and Davao region. Since 2010 coconut production in the country has not significantly
increased. This can be attributed factors that affect the majority of the coconut production such
as pest infestation weather disturbance. (Elauria, Castro, Elauria, Bhattacharya, & Salam) On the
other hand, the practice of intercropping as promoted by the Department of Agriculture with
other agricultural products will serve to enhance coconut production because fertilizers meant for
smaller crops add nourished to the coconut plant.

Last 2015, the Philippines has produced a coconut product at an estimated volume of 14.9
million tons, coconut shell at 2.4 million tons and coconut husk at 4.9 million tons. (Elauria,
Castro, Elauria, Bhattacharya, & Salam) Among the coconut by-products, coconut shell is the
most widely utilized. The most common use is shell charcoal that is also exported and converted
into activated carbon. It is also usually used for household cooking in rural areas in the country.
While coconut husk, although it is reported to be a potential source of biomass energy, it is also
used and exported as coconut coir for soil erosion protection and automobile interiors.

Sugarcane residue
Sugarcane is extensively grown in the Western Visayas and a significant number in Central
Visayas and Northern Mindanao. (Zafar, 2015) It is one of the most promising biomass energy
sources in the world. It is said to be the most appropriate energy crop due to its resistance to
climatic disturbance, drought, pest, disease and low gestation period. Residues produced from
sugarcane for biomass energy utilization are bagasse and cane trash. Bagasse is an agricultural
residue that is produced after the extraction of juice from sugarcane. (Baconguis, 2007) It is a
major biomass waste that is formed and usually used by sugar mills. While cane trash is the field
residue remains after harvesting the cane stalk. It is estimated that bagasse production in 2015
was at 8.3 million tons while more than half of t came from Western Visayas region.

(Baconguis, 2007) Bagasse is mostly utilized in sugar mills for their boilers. (Zafar, 2015) It is
used to generate steam and electricity for their internal requirements. While cane trash is used in
feed mills and some are collected for farm animal consumption. But in most plantation, cane
trash is burned and left behind to decompose and serves as fertilizer. (Baconguis, 2007) Cane
trash has gained little attention and has not been utilized on the same scale as that of bagasse.
(Zafar, 2015) This can be attributed to its bulkiness and high transportation and collection cost.
However, the amount of energy that can be generated from cane trash is estimated at 1KWh/kg.

IV. ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF BIOMASS PRODUCTION

(Lilibeth A. Acostaa, 2014) Bioenergy production can have both positive and negative impact on
the society. Education in green house gasses emission, increase in energy security, promotion in
rural development and increase in export revenues are mentioned positive impact of bioenergy
production. On the other hand, food security and accessibility, forest degradation and social
conflicts are some of the controversies concerning the bioenergy sector. The impact of bioenergy
to the society are at odds because its production involves different products and different sectors
interacting across different levels. (Clancy, 2011) Bioenergy production not only provides
opportunities with multiple benefits but also causes conflicts with many interests due to
interlinkage. An example of this issue is food security versus bioenergy. (Clancy, 2011) Since
planting materials of biomass are grown with agricultural production method similar to any cash
crop. However, there are strong concerns that biomass source will result in increased hunger as
tropical crops are diverted away from household for daily consumption. This case will be the
outcome of converting agricultural land intended for food production to cash crop intended for
biomass production such as converting from rice field to sugarcane plantation. (Development as
Freedom, 2001) However, biomass source will only threaten food security if they influence food
availability and access to food. In order to guarantee food security, measures had been proposed
to improve biofuel production without disrupting the food supply. This can be done by switching
from non-food crops to biofuel producing crops. Another method is to use a more productive
species and better farm practices. (Clancy, 2011) On the other hand, it is important to note that
biofuel generating crops are the not the only crop that threatens food security. A significant
threat also comes from change in dietary pattern. As a result, as food security is being threatened,
prices of staple products may significantly increase. (Slater, 2007). Furthermore, historical data
from the Philippine Statistic Authority (PSA) shows that manpower involves in agriculture
decreases at an annual average rate of 1% (Philippine Statistic Authority, 2017). This means that
promoting biomass and bioenergy may face challenges as it also aims a balance with food
supply. In addition, some studies consider the evidence available that it is unclear as to whether
or not there is a net impact on poverty and food security in developing countries while others
consider that there is lack of evidence that land has been diverted from food production for
biofuels.

(Lilibeth A. Acostaa, 2014) Meanwhile, implementing with various bioenergy policies and
programs will lead to the reduction of dependency on imported oil products, enhance economic
growth, local employment and increase energy efficiency. However, implementation of such
policies and programs for bioenergy production faces some challenges such as logistic,
transportation, geographical situation of the country and the cost of using efficient technology.
To address this issues, it is important to identify in which region produces a significant amount
and type of biomass in order to install an efficient technology that would lessen problems
associated with logistics, transportation, and geography.

In general, the economic impact of biomass are governed by factors such as net labor, intensity
in crop production and technology being applied both if farming practices and harnessing
biomass energy.

(M. J. Montefrio, 2016) Biomass for energy have both positive and negative impacts on the
environment. Biomass for energy can be an alternative means to using fossil fuels like coal,
petroleum, or natural gas. Meanwhile, converting of fossil fuels or biomass to energy by burning
releases carbon dioxide (CO2), a type of greenhouse gas that has a negative impact on the
environment. However burning biomass for energy achieve a nearly equivalent cycle as the
amount of CO2 being produced may capture again by plants intended for biomass production
through photosynthesis.

Using coconut shell, and charcoal made from coconut shell, for heating and cooking replaces
fossil fuels. It is reported that coconut shells and charcoal have lower CO2 emissions overall
compared to fossil fuels and coal. Coconut shell may be harvested in any part of the country. (F.
X. Wagiman, 2014)(Edmund Ameko, 2014), However, smoke from coconut shell contains
pollutants like carbon monoxide and particulate matter. Such pullutants from the smoke of the
burning coconut shells are reported to be harmful to humans. Also, aside from harmful polutants
of burning coconut shells, technology used in harnessing energies in rural areas are said to be in
effcients. With this, technologies were designed to reduce the number of particulates emitted and
increases efficiency. Woods and charcoals are the major fuels used for cooking and heating in
poor countries. However, using wood chips and wood charcoal may also result in rapid
deforestation. To address the issues is by planting fast-growing trees for fuel and using fuel-
efficient cooking stoves can help slow the rate deforestation and may improve the environment.

(Ethanol History From Alcohol to Car Fuel, 2010) Also, ethanol and biodiesel were the fuels
used in the first automobile and diesel engines. However low cost processing of gasoline and
diesel fuel makes crude oil as a one of the dominant source of energy. Currently, the government
is promoting the use of ethanol in vehicles to help reduce oil imports and development low cost
processing technology for the production. Biofuels may be considered carbon-neutral because
the plants that are used to make biofuels (such as corn and sugarcane for ethanol, and soybeans
and palm oil trees for biodiesel) absorb CO2 as they grow and may offset the CO2 produced
when biofuels are made and burned. (Lilibeth A. Acostaa, 2014) However, growing plants for
biofuels is controversial because it may encourage land conversion, threatens food security and
forestry, and the energy that may be used to grow biofuel crops could be used to grow food crops
instead. Also, in some parts of the world, large areas of natural vegetation intended for food
production and forestry have been converterd to grow sugar cane for ethanol. With this,
stakeholders are encourage to develop alternative sources of biomass that do not compete with
food crops and that needs less energy and fertelizer for growing. Meanwhile, the government
supports the efforts in the development of biomass resource production that would not affect
forested land such as promoting multi-cropping scheme in existing monocrop farms land. The
government also supports methods of biomass production that requires less energy than
conventional and inefficient method.

(Ethanol History From Alcohol to Car Fuel, 2010) Another environmental benefit from ethanol
is that gasoline mixed with ethanol burn cleaner and are said to have higher octane ratings than
pure gasoline. However, gasoline with ethanol have evaporative. Thus, gasoline requires
additional processing to reduce the rate of evaporation before it is blended with ethanol. On the
other hand, the use of fuel derived from biodiesel produces less particulate matter, less carbon
monoxide, fewer sulfur oxides, and fewer unburned and other hydrocarbons duting combustion.
But it does produce more nitrogen oxide than petroleum diesel.
V. CONCLUDING REMARKS
The biomass resource potential for energy use is accounted. Data shows that biomass resources
are increasing and can significantly contribute energy supply of the country. Furthermore,
accelerating the utilization and development through public awareness and government policies
and sponsored will further lessen the dependency of the Philippines from imported fuels.
However harnessing the energy from biomass faces some challenges such as efficiency of
technology used, logistic, economic and environmental impact and social acceptability. It is
important to identify to which region is the biomass resource is heavily produced in order to
position technology efficient facilities that will be used in harnessing biomass energy.
Furthermore, logistical problems will be mitigated thus the cost of harnessing will be lessened.
This will also lessen the imbalance that may arise between biomass production and food security.
Positioning this product specific facilities for harnessing biomass energy to regions in which
biomass are heavily generated will also result in a better land utilization. Recent data shows that
a significant volume of sugarcane bagasse is seen in Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and
Northern Mindanao. While major volume of rice residues can be found at Cagayan Valley,
Central Luzon, and Western Visayas. A large volume of coconut residue can be found at
Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, and Davao Region. Furthermore positioning
efficient technology for bioenergy production in regions where there is a significant volume of
biomass resource may lessen the rate of deforestation because possible stakeholders in the other
region may be hesitant in venturing on biomass production as it may face cost issues concerning
logistics and transportation. It is also important to promote and adopt efficient and sustainable
farming technologies and practices, as it may result in an increase in agricultural products
produced and lessen the dependence in labor, thereby increases agricultural residues that can be
used in bioenergy production.
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