SCBI ethanol refinery to start mid-January

The commercial operations of the P2.5-billion ethanol refinery plant of San Carlos BioEnergy Inc. (SCBI) is expected to push through by mid-January in time for the implementation of the five-percent mandated blend for ethanol under the Biofuels Act.

Department of Energy (DOE) director Mario Marasigan said the plant will be able to supply the requirements of its customers that include Petron Corp., the country’s largest oil company.

“They will be able to meet the five percent mandate for ethanol starting February,” he said.

According to Marasigan, SCBI completed testing in December 2008 and full commissioning is expected this month.

He said by February, the ethanol refinery will be ready to supply the requirements of its customers.

The SCBI refinery, which has a capacity of 125,000 liters per day or 30 million liters annually, is located at the San Carlos Agro-Industrial Economic Zone in Negros Occidental. It is designed to meet all local and international environmental and technical standards.

The SCBI complex will also include a co-generation plant with eight megawatts of power capacity.

Estimates show SCBI’s ethanol processing plant will require approximately 400,000 tons of cane annually, all of which will come from the 9,000-hectare San Carlos sugar district.

SCBI is being developed by Bronzeoak Philippines, a unit of Bronzeoak Ltd. of the UK, and the Zabaleta group. It was established in 1997 to engage in sugar farming and agribusiness.