Raw Brown Sugar Milling Company from  Negros Oriental, through a P990,000 equipment grant from DOST, now has renewable energy facility—the first in the country-- to enhance its muscovado production.

A sugar company finally built a facilitythat converts wastes to new source of renewable energy, the first of its kind in the country. Called Fluidized Bed Gasification (FBG) System, the facility was recently unveiled by the Raw Brown Sugar Milling Company, Inc. in Pamplona, Negros Oriental.

The FBG System, introduced by the Department of Science and Technology-Industrial Technology Development Institute (DOST-ITDI), is used by manufacturing plants to convert biomass into new source of renewable energy.

Agri wastes are “burned” when a limited amount of oxygen or air is introduced into the FBG System to produce carbon dioxide and energy. This drives a second reaction that further converts waste material to hydrogen and additional carbon dioxide-- this is the gasification stage.

As such, the system helps supply the electric power requirement and bring down electricity costs of the company, according to Atty. Alejandro Florian O. Alcantara, president and CEO of the company.

“I see several advantages to powering our turbines with synthetic gas produced by ITDI’s FBG System. These are 100 percent reduction of our agricultural wastes, production of our monthly electricity requirement at no cost, and significant reduction of gaseous pollutants due to the near-zero combustion process of the FBG System,” Atty. Alcantara said.

The system is expected to provide around 40 percent of the company’s total electricity requirement. The plant produces nearly 1,100 tons of pure, whole and unrefined muscovado annually. Muscovado is produced from fresh sugarcane juice without using bleaching agents.

DOST-ITDI’s Engr. Apollo Victor Bawagan said that the gasification of biomass, such as sugarcane bagasse and sugarcane trash, is “most interesting” because the produced synthetic gas has a near-zero combustion. Bawagan led the DOST-ITDI team that modified the biomass carbonizer technology for sugarcan bagasse to support the setting up of the a co-generation facility atthe plant.

The DOST Region VII through the Negros Oriental Provincial Science and Technology Center provided P990,000 for this Grants-In-Aids project. Components include among others the design, fabrication and installation, testing and debuggingof the 50kg/hr batch-type biomass carbonizer.

The launching ceremony was attended by DOST VII Regional Director Edilberto L. Paradela, Bawagan, and the company’sbusiness associate,Edward Lee. Various government agencies, private sectors and local businessmen also witnessedthe event.(DOST- Negros Oriental Media Service).

Photos with captions:


1.    Ceremonial ribbon cutting: DOST 7 RD Edilberto L. Paradela (center) assisted by RBSMCI President Atty. Alejandro Florian O. Alcantara (extreme right) and Mr. Edward Lee (business associate). Behind Atty. Alcantara is Engr. Apollo Bawagan, Energy Section Head of the ITDI Chemicals and Energy Division. (Photo by RBSMCI1)


2.    Prototype carbonizer (painted red) is shown in foreground. Behind it is the gasification component (fluidized bed gasifier).(Photo by RBSMCI1)


3.    The fluidized bed gasifier up close.(Photo by RBSMCI1)