Debate on coco-biodiesel rages

We are continuing our discussions about the use of coco-biodiesel as an automotive fuel. We received a lengthy letter from Rafael S. Diaz Jr., Asian Institute of Petroleum Studies, Inc. (AIPSI) managing director, in reaction to the Philippine Institute of Petroleum’s position paper that was published in this column a few weeks ago. We are printing part of his response as follows:

"The paper being presented by the PIP (the mouthpiece of multinational oil companies) is very misleading because of false negative issues being attached on the one percent CME initiative. The effort to misinform seems deliberate. Why?

"Specifically, they state that recent tests on ‘five percent FAME (fatty acid methyl ester), the category which CME belongs, showed negative effects on engine parts such as abrasive wear in fuel injector equipment, heavy corrosion in fuel tanks, absorbs moisture that leads to bacterial and algae growth which leads to clogging of fuel filters.’

"This statement is very misleading and unfair to the CME initiative because the tests referred to are those published in the Internet using either soybean or rapeseed biodiesel on a worst case scenario.

"Furthermore, the CME initiative is about coco-biodiesel (not soybean or rapeseed), and it calls for only one percent blend (not five percent). Perhaps PIP believes that just like diesel, all biodiesels are alike.

"They are the same only in the aspect of oxygen content and lubricity but they differ widely on the aspect of distillation range, cetane number, solvency and detergency, and oxidation stability.

"Rapeseed and soybean biodiesel are highly unsaturated carbon which means they are very reactive to oxidation, prone to bacterial and algae growth, corrosion, polymerization, etc. This is what the PIP paper has referred to.

"In contrast, coco-biodiesel (or CME) is the only biodiesel that is highly saturated and the only biodiesel that consists of easy to burn medium carbon chain. It cannot have the same negative issues as those from highly unsaturated carbon.

"One way to determine the excellence of CME is to compare it with an ideal diesel. An ideal diesel is 100 percent n-paraffin which means it is 100 percent saturated and theoretically 100 percent oxidation stable. CME is 92 percent saturated and only eight percent short of the profile of an ideal diesel.

"No other plant biodiesel comes close to this feature – not even unadditized refined diesel fuel from complex refineries. Additionally, CME contains lubricity, solvency, and oxygen in its natural state which are not present in ideal diesel. Comparing it with the desirable quality parameters of diesel fuel, it will be clear why CME can pass as the ‘world’s perfect natural diesel.’

Comprehensive test not needed

"It seems someone in PIP has provided wrong data and information about CME among his colleagues and has created fear and apprehension among its members and the higher management of oil companies. Because of this, they are seeking comprehensive engine test (or 100,000 km test) to assure them that a one percent CME blend will not have negative effect in engine performance.

"This may be a strategy to buy time because it will take four to five years to conduct the test. With the fast and unending escalation of fuel cost sold by the oil companies (that provides them windfall margins from inventory gain), the people and the country cannot afford to wait for unnecessary, expensive, and prolonged test just to prove that a one percent blend of a superior diesel fuel over regular diesel fuel will not pose engine problems.

"Nevertheless, a related comprehensive test done in Germany on one percent blend of biodiesel showed that engine wear had been substantially reduced after 15,000 service hours (p. 14, www.ufop.de <http://www.ufop.de/> ). Fifteen thousand service hours translates to about eight years use of vehicle (at five hours per day for 365 days per year).

"Furthermore, global Shell has good experience in the use of biodiesel. The Shell website which published the company plan for the ‘21st Century Transportation Fuel’ includes the development of biodiesel and has, in fact, claimed of having supplied five percent blend of biodiesel in France since 1995.

"It is therefore ironic that Bobby Kanapi of Shell (my former colleague in the industry) would be voicing the false negative issues of PIP as opposed to what his company is doing globally. Why exclude the Philippines?

"While the negative issues which are falsely attached by PIP on CME are obviously rooted on misinformation or lack of information, allow me to respond on the issue of comprehensive test and a few others.

"Extensive and comprehensive technical evaluation (based on internationally accepted procedure) have been conducted to establish the International Standard Specification for diesel fuel such as DIN 570.

"Thus, oil companies no longer need to conduct comprehensive engine test on their refined or imported diesel fuels for as long as its quality parameters conform to the established specification of DIN 570 or the Philippine National Standard (PNS) for diesel (this is referred to as Œread across‚).

"CME conforms to all these specifications so on the basis of "read across," it is absolutely unnecessary to conduct a comprehensive test on just one percent CME blend. In the Philippines, local CAMPI has in fact posed no objection on one percent blend of CME.

"It should also be noted that the PIP’s comment about the METI test is without any official basis because METI has not yet published any official statement on their biodiesel test.

"With very strict test protocol, it is very likely that highly unsaturated biodiesels will be eliminated. CME will surely conform to their strict standards owing to its very high oxidation stability and medium carbon chain.

Pure coconut oil is not CME

"Also, please note that there has been no previous CME program done by government that was halted due to bacterial and algae growth in storage tank, filter clogging, etc. What was done in the late 80s by government was the coco-diesel program, i.e., use of pure coconut oil (or CNO blend in diesel) under the energy conservation program.

"That was not CME. So this again is misleading and it seems PIP has not distinguished CME from CNO. Yes, the use of pure coconut oil (CNO) resulted in the problems described due to the presence of glycerine in coconut oil. Glycerine is not present in CME.

"We know that it cannot be right to expect multinational oil companies to embrace Filipino nationalism which is why their commercial concerns are understandable. However, when the going gets rough, we also know that they can easily divest and leave us to fend for ourselves as we have seen in the past with the divestments of Esso, Getty, Mobil, others. The more recent divestment was the Caltex refinery.

"CME is a ‘perfect natural diesel’ and it is uniquely Filipino. Its development augurs well for the future energy self-sufficiency of the country no matter how small. It must begin now!

"It will be desirable if PIP can look at CME very positively rather than demolish its excellence with false issues especially at this time that global oil crisis is brewing due to the escalating conflicts in the Middle East."

PIP paper submitted to the Senate

In my next column, we will have a glimpse of the paper submitted by the Philippines Institute of Petroleum (PIP) to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairman of the energy committee summarizing the oil industry’s (major oil companies) response to the proposed bill mandating the use of coco-biodiesel. The debate about bio-diesel rages with the Senate as the new battleground.

Tagaytay Hold’em Challenge winners

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The next Tagaytay qualifying tournament is on 19th August 2006. Interested poker players may visit www.PhilippinePokerTour.com or call the secretariat (c/o Cindy) at 817-9092 or 812-0153.

Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 4th Floor, 156 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at [email protected] or at [email protected]. If you wish to view the previous columns, you may visit my website at http://bizlinks.linkedge.biz