Pig waste to fuel farm and feed mill in Batangas
Lipa City, Batangas (9 June 2010) – Silangan Farm will soon have its electricity sourced from manure collected from its pig barns. This was announced during the inauguration of the biogas plant installed by SURE Eco Energy Philippines (SURE Eco) inside the 3,300-sow farm. SURE Eco management and staff were joined by representatives of the Department of Energy (DOE), project partners and guests during the plant commissioning.
The farm’s owner and head of the RLU Group of Companies, Ruben Umali, received the guests to the inauguration. He expressed his enthusiasm over the completion of the biogas plant that will process the farm’s pig waste to generate electricity and heat.
Manure from the farm will undergo anaerobic digestion in a closed concrete tank. The methane produced during this process will serve as fuel for the biogas generator. Waste heat produced by the generator exhaust will be used by the boiler in the feed mill. SURE Eco installed a 200-kw biogas generator with a 200-kw back-up to ensure year-round power generation for the farm and an exhaust heat boiler for the feed mill.
In his speech, Paul Puthenpurekal, Solutions Using Renewable Energy Inc. (SURE) president and COO, noted that the waste-to-energy facility in Silangan Farm is one of the first industrial-scale biogas plant that has combined heat and power application in the Philippines. He mentioned that SURE Eco will be launching its other biogas projects in the coming months and that this was all made possible through the partnership between SURE and MG Leasing Corporation.
DOE Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan expressed his enthusiasm over the commissioning of the plant in his speech. He said that Silangan Farm will serve as a model for other pig farms in the area. He later joined other guests in touring the the waste treatment facilities and the power plant.