During the CNEX – Talking Points forum held at the Philippine Information Agency, PCA public relations officer Thelma Tolentino said government is considering to increase the current minimum two percent blend of coco-diesel due to its many benefits.

Although Tolentino did not mention a definite date of implementation, the Department of Energy earlier issued a policy that aims to increase to five percent the current mixture, to around 10 percent by 2015.

She said the potential of coco-biodiesel goes beyond its financial rewards to the millions of coconut farmers in the country.

We must also take into consideration its benefits to the economy and the environment, she said.

A recent study showed that coconut farmers stand to earn more than P2 billion per year in the sale of coconut oil, a primary ingredient of the coco-biodiesel.

Likewise, coco-biodiesel enhances the combustion performance of diesel engines for better effeciency and less pollution produced.

It said that the inherent oxygen content of coco-biodiesel promotes better combustion in the engine which translates to an increase in mileage by as much as 10 percent.PIA.

Agricultural giant Tyson Foods Inc. and fuel developer Syntroleum Corp. will announce Monday that they have successfully opened a plant that makes diesel from chicken fat and leftover food grease.

But they say their new venture won’t survive unless Congress gives them a hefty tax break, an argument that many other alternative energy projects are also making.

A raw-materials check at the Tyson-Syntroleum alternative-diesel plant.

Tyson and Syntroleum say they’ve begun in recent weeks to make diesel and jet fuel from chicken fat, beef tallow and a range of greases and oils at a plant they’ve built in Geismar, La., south of Baton Rouge. The raw materials are leftovers from Tyson’s meat-processing plants and other food-processing factories and restaurants.

The Louisiana refinery has the capacity to produce 75 million gallons of fat-based fuel annually—making it tiny by oil-industry standards but among the bigger alternative-fuel plants in the U.S.

Buyers include oil companies mandated by federal law to mix renewable fuel into their conventional diesel, the companies say, though they wouldn’t identify the purchasers, citing confidentiality agreements. The U.S. Air Force confirmed that it has contracted to buy about 40,000 gallons for testing the fuel for potential use in planes.

The companies contend that the fuel won’t be economically viable unless Congress restores a $1-a-gallon federal tax credit that used to go to companies that mixed alternative fuels into petroleum-based diesel. That break expired at the end of last year, when the $170 million Louisiana plant was under construction.

Had Syntroleum known Congress would let the break lapse, the company probably wouldn’t have built the plant, said Jeff Bigger, a company senior vice president.

Jeff Webster, a Tyson group vice president, said that if the tax break isn’t extended, “The whole green-fuels industry in the U.S. is going to go down.”

Tyson Foods and fuel developer Syntroleum Corp. have successfully opened a factory that makes fuel from chicken fat and food grease. But they say the venture won’t survive unless Congress gives them a hefty tax break. Jeffrey Ball reports from Dallas.
The alternative-diesel credit is among several tax breaks that have lapsed or will soon do so. The Obama administration and Congress will be discussing in coming weeks whether to continue the breaks amid concerns over the federal deficit.

Similarly, a 45-cent-a-gallon tax break for companies that blend ethanol into gasoline is due to expire at the end of this year. Makers of the corn-based fuel are lobbying Congress to extend it.

Several U.S. biodiesel plants have shut down recently, some citing the expiration of the $1-a-gallon tax credit for alternative diesel. Biodiesel—made from grease or oil mixed with chemicals in vats—was all the rage a few years ago, when the tax break existed.

Tyson and Syntroleum aren’t making biodiesel. They use heat to change the molecular structure of fats and oils and then refine them into fuel. They say their brew behaves more like conventional diesel and jet fuel than biodiesel does—meaning it could be used in large quantities in existing pipelines, gas stations, cars, trucks and planes.

Their fuel is registered with the Environmental Protection Agency for use in cars and trucks. It hasn’t been certified for use in planes.

JEFFREY BALL

SOURCE: WSJ

“Biodiesel will be incorporated into the energy matrix, initially accounting for 5 percent of domestic demand, that is 742 million liters (196 million gallons) per year, which is equivalent to the amount of conventional diesel fuel imported by Argentina in 2008,” Planning Minister Julio de Vido told a press conference.

The minister predicted that over the next four years biodiesel’s share of the conventional diesel-biofuel blend will rise to 20 percent.

The law mandating that diesel fuel contain a renewable component dates back to 2006 and stipulates that the measure must go into effect in 2010.

Separately, the minister said that in the face of “persistent record-high temperatures” in the current Southern Hemisphere summer, the electrical system has responded “perfectly within the normal parameters.”

He acknowledged that “there may have been some isolated” problems with the service, but nothing serious.

De Vido added that the government has already invested 18 billion pesos ($4.66 billion) to expand electricity generation and transport capacity in Argentina.

In that sense, he said investment projects totaling 29 billion pesos ($7.51 billion) are currently being carried out, in addition to planned future projects that will cost 31 billion pesos ($8.03 billion) EFE.

Source: Laht efe