10th National Convention on Statistics (NCS)

EDSA Shangri-La Hotel

October 1 -2, 2007

Abandoned Biomass Resource Statistics in the Philippines

by
Santiago R. Baconguis

For additional information, please contact:

Author’s name : Engr. Santiago R. Baconguis

Designation : Chief Science Research Specialist/Division Chief
Affiliation : Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau
Address : College, Laguna
Tel. no. : (06349) 536-3628
 Abandoned Biomass Resource Statistics in the Philippines1

by

Engr. Santiago R. Baconguis2

ABSTRACT

Abandoned biomass resource statistics was compiled for the Philippines.

The main goal of the work is to consolidate abandoned biomass resource data from
forest plantation, agricultural and urban areas and make it available for analysis and
project development especially for household and industrial energy application in
order to help reduce denudation and conserve our forest resources. Major
abandoned biomass producing regions were identified for the different biomass
resources namely, corn cobs, rice hull, sugarcane bagasse, coconut residues, animal
manure, forestry wastes, urban refuse and other cellolusic materials.

Data on regional and annual estimated generated volume of the different

biomass resources are presented. Potential development and utilization of the
resources mentioned is also discussed including barriers in the adoption of biomass
utilization technologies. The data is useful in planning energy projects and product
development using abandoned biomass for sustainable development using
abandoned biomass.

I. Introduction

One very important issues that the Philippines is facing today including the developing
countries in the 21 st century is the capability to have a dependable and affordable renewable
energy sources and sustainable development of the remaining natural resources. Historically,
the Philippines has been heavily dependent on imported fossil fuel for its energy needs. In
recent years, there is a global search and development for alternative and renewable energy.
The Philippines has an abundant abandoned biomass resources from cellolusic residues of
agricultural production and processing, animal wastes, forest biomass residues, urban-industrial
wastes and aquatic biomass (i.e ., water hyacinth, etc.). As early as 10 years ago, sugarcane
bagasse and other agro-forestry wastes accounted for 3.5 and 5.6 percent, respectively of the
national energy mix (Elauria et al.) and this contribution is expected to increase especially due

1
Paper presented at the 10th National Convention on Statistics held at the EDSA Shangrila Plaza Hotel, Mandaluyong City,
Philippines on 1-2 October 2007.
2
Chief Science Research Specialist/Division Chief, Coastal Zone and Freshwater Ecosystems Research Division and Project
Leader, DENR Charcoal Briquetting Project, Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, Department of Environment and
Natural Resources, College, Laguna 4031, Philippines.
to continued increase in fuel prices. Recently, the Philippines has started to take measures to
develop biofuels and other renewable energy sources.

Biomass has been defined as organic products from agriculture and forestry systems
developed to provide food, fuel, and organic matter from captured sewage and waste treatment
facilities (Bun, 1994). The Philiipines, being an agricultural country growing crops like rice, corn,
coconut, sugarcane, banana, bamboo, jatropa and fruit and tree crops generates a huge
amount of by-products and residues that may be used to generate energy and development of
other products. This is still a huge untapped resources. At the same time, the country is also
endowed with an extensive livestock industry that could contribute to huge biomass potential
utilization of the country.

The Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Environment and Natural Resources

(DENR), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), BIMP-EAGA Region and other
entities are currently promoting the development and widespread use of biomass resources by
pilot testing, demonstration and commercial use of biomass charcoal briquetting, combustion
system, gasification and other system for power generation, steam and heat generation
including use of biomass for organic composting, hand-made paper, animal feeds, etc..

The production and use charcoal briquettes and gasifiers in the country is increasing due
to continuous increase in fuel prices, the availability of technology and abandoned biomass
resources especially rice hull for the gasifiers. The technologies gives an opportunity to dispose
of cellolusic wastes and at the same time cleans the community of unwanted wastes, conserve
the forest and reduce GHG emissions, provide alternative/additional livelihood to the urban and
rural poor communities.

This paper discusses the sources and availability of biomass by region in the Philippines
and its potential utilization. Hopefully, the information will guide investors in selection of sites for
renewable energy projects and in the promotion and commercialization of charcoal briquetting in
the Philippines.
II. Abandoned Biomass Resources in the Philippines

The Philippines is largely an agricultural country with the agricultural sector contributing
about one-third of GNP. The total area is about 30 million hectares and about half is
approximately A & D lands which is devoted to agricultural production and urban development.
The remaining areas are forests, shrublands and wetlands. Rice, corn and coconut are the most
abundant crops planted with a total area of about 9 million hectares. The major abandoned
biomass/wastes resources presented in this paper are: rice hull/husk, rice straw, sugarcane
bagasse, coconut wastes, forestry residues and urban waste. Tables 1 and 2 shows abandoned
biomass statistics from different sources on a regional basis.

1. Rice Hull

The Filipinos are among the world’s biggest rice consumers. The average Filipino
consumes about 100 kilograms per year of rice. Metro Manila consumes up to 22,000 tons per
day of rice or 16% of the country’s rice consumption according to the Asia Rice Foundation
(ARF). Rice consumption is increasing at an average of two percent per year. With the
population of the Philippines already surpassing the 80 million-mark, rice will continue to be
grown and should match production with corresponding increase in population. Rice production
increased from 5.32 million tons in 1970 to 12.39 million tons in 2000.

Rice hull is a processing by-product of rice milling and accounts for about 20% of the
rice production. Rice straw on the other hand are field wastes after the harvesting of rice. The
country also has more than 12,000 rice mills spread throughout the country. These processing
centers are the point sources of rice hull each year.

2. Sugarcane Bagasse

With the passing of Biofuels Act of 2006, the sugar industry in the Philippines which is
the major source of ethanol for e-gasoline and domestic sugar will become a major thriving
industry. Large tracts of land is devoted to sugarcane areas amounting to more than 362,000 ha
today decreasing slightly from 372,399 ha in 1995.
 Bagasse is a major biomass wastes produced and mostly utilized by the sugar mills for
their boilers amounted to more than 5.9 million metric to ns per year. Bagasse production is
643,900 t/ha (321,950 t/ha, dried). Cane trash is another biomass wastes from sugar production
that have not been utilized in the same scale as that of bagasse. Annual yield for cane trash is
391,486 t/ha (274,040 t/ha d ry).

3. Coconut Wastes

The Philippines has the largest number of coconut trees in the world. Half a billion of
these grow on three million hectares across the Islands. The country produces most of the
world market for coconut oil and copra meal. In the Philippine setting, the coconut palms are
also called the “tree of life” from the numerous products and by-products that could be derived
from it.

The major coconut wastes include coconut shell (12%), coconut husks (35%) and
coconut coir dust . Among the three form, coconut shell is the most widely utilized but the
reported utilization rate is very low. The most common use is shell charcoal that are also
exported and converted into activated carbon.

The coconut tree also sheds its mature fronds of about 40 from time to time that weighs
about 10 kg each. It will take 5-6 years before the fronds mature which is one of the field
biomass. It is usually used as firewood for household cooking after removing the leaves.

4. Tubang Bakod (Jatropha curcas)

Although the world is not about to run out of oil (at least not in the immediate future),
production have already reached its peak. As the supply base starts to diminish, price
escalation becomes inevitable just as what is happening now including its bad reputation as
major source of high CO2 emissions. In view of the grim scenario, it becomes clear that there is
a need to source an alternative, renewable and environment-friendly fuel substitutes.

It has been discovered that the oil of Tubang bakod (Jatropha curcas) is an excellent
diesel fuel substitutes. It is a clean source of energy. More importantly, it is inexhaustible once
planted and will also help rehabilitate large tract of denuded areas in the Philippines. A boon to
the environment but to rural economy as well.

At only about 1% blend of biodiesel from Jatropha, it would generate 300,000 mt of

wastes by 2008. This would produce an equivalent of 75,000 mt of charcoal briquettes valued at
about P1.1 b at current local price. This industry alone would need 947 producers using a
300-kg per day capacity manual briquettors, or 142 producers using a 2-t/day capacity
hydraulic briquettors. This would create additional jobs in the locality and downstream
enterprises and businesses. As the fuel blend increases, the processing wastes will also
increase proportionately.

5. Forestry Residues

More than 15 million hectares of land in the Philippines is devoted to forestland and the
actual forest cover totals 5.4 million ha only. The Philippines through the DENR is exerting all
its efforts to rehabilitate the denuded lands of this country and thereby significantly contributing
to the biomass production. The logging wastes and residues amounted to only 104 thousand
cubic meters compared with more than 5,200 thousand cubic meters in 1979. If the area
previously devoted to forest cover is to be replanted, this would be a significant addition to the
country’s sustainable energy resource from biomass.

The projected established forest plantation will increased from 2.06 million ha in 2005 to
3.o1 million ha in 2015 (PCARRD, 1994). Wood production from new plantations is estimated to
increase 6.9 million cu m to 24.78 million cu m thereby increasing abandoned biomass
production.

6. Urban Solid Wastes

The Philippines generates more than 11,000 tons of solid waters per day. About half of
that is produced in Metro Manila alone. This translates to more than 4 million metric tons of
solid wastes disposed similar to that experienced in Metro Manila. Most of these biomass can
be converted into usable energy careers (biogas, charcoal briquettes, etc.).
 7. Livestock Manure

The poultry and livestock industries in the Philippines continued to grow to address the
demand for animal protein to support the increasing population. The population of chickens has
doubled in 10 years time to 52.34 million heads. The growth rate of the duck population is
slower than the chicken. The duck population has increased from a mere 0.71 million heads in
the 50’s to 8.61 million heads in 1999.

The large animal population showed a positive growth rate between 0.76 to 5.19%
during the last 15 years. The estimated amount of wastes from the animal production alone was
more than 30 million metric tons per year. The waste treatment processes in the country have
been minimal and continue to pose serious problem of environmental pollution in many growth
areas in the country. The change is the pattern of livestock and poultry production from small to
medium and large-scale operations and the increased concentration of livestock and poultry
establishments in a few animal production areas resulted to environmental pollution problems.

Table 1. Breakdown of abandoned biomass by region in the Philippines

(‘000 metric tons).

REGIONS Rice Hull Bagasse Coco-Shell Coco- Coco-Coir Jatropa

Husk
CAR 44.274 - 0.183 0.407 0.407 *
NCR - - - - - -
Region 1 216.378 - 14.853 33.008 23.105 *
Region 2 341.762 55591.406 86.158 15.971 134.023 *
Region 3 368.531 392732.918 546.719 1.075 850.452 *
Region 4 241.495 521779.063 65.018 740.288 101.139 *
Region 5 144.049 74836.265 7.187 253.873 11.180 *
Region 6 306.346 3441250.767 0.484 97.381 0.753 *
Region 7 41.673 687724.005 333.130 136.868 518.202 *
Region 8 101.279 183257.896 114.243 509.605 177.711 *
Region 9 62.229 - 43.822 539.001 68.167 *
Region 10 66.402 42627.445 61.590 191.462 95.807 *
Region 11 136.168 135649.899 229.322 1214.932 356.723 *
Region 12 158.797 66742.885 242.550 144.484 377.01 *
CARAGA 56.042 - 42.970 95.488 66.842 *
ARMM 68.901 - 165.904 368.675 258.072 *

PHILIPPINES 2357.325 5985839.549 1948.867 4330.814 3031.570 300.000

Table 2. Breakdown of abandoned biomass from livestock industry by region
in the Philippines (‘000 metric tons).

REGIONS Swine Cattle Carabao Goat Chicken Duck

CAR 153.724 213.196 435.647 13.065 53.052 56.604
NCR - - - - 9.846 -
Region 1 372.249 1236.904 1040.697 131.726 201.214 136.063
Region 2 287.548 549.402 1398.972 34.441 258.627 320.652
Region 3 770.027 606.623 740.720 90.883 770.185 777.407
Region 4 804.394 1103.721 1259.692 63.422 765.521 302.947
Region 5 393.931 454.115 1155.716 30.564 276.314 87.703
Region 6 460.660 693.321 1258.628 121.845 423.388 403.741
Region 7 539.331 1078.356 611.515 167.725 297.661 69.938
Region 8 458.324 113.154 859.352 18.779 175.746 95.621
Region 9 280.802 460.203 901.173 74.146 163.151 82.129
Region 10 331.677 905.437 439.695 57.598 223.466 142.319
Region 11 530.936 729.399 1125.721 146.445 366.494 277.952
Region 12 236.272 370.351 1011.267 65.456 113.147 173.443
CARAGA 199.903 40.545 434.597 31.175 77.803 68.989
ARMM 20.221 340.822 492.842 50.297 52.627 137.863

PHILIPPINES 5840.00 5948.552 12110.483 804.340 4228.241 2685.040

III. Biomass Utilization Technology

Due to abundance of abandoned biomass in the country, various energy conversion

technologies have been developed and adopted under local conditions. For fuelwood and
charcoal, designs of different stove was also made for the different kinds of biomass. Some of
the technologies used in the Philippines are:

1. Direct combustion – This makes use of wood and agricultural residues such as rice hull
and corn cobs from the mill and wood wastes and saw dusts from furniture shops and
wood processing plants; co-generation using coconut shells in copra mills, bagasse in
sugar mills, kiln drying of lumber, tobacco curing, bakeries, restaurants, resorts and
other industries for generation of heat and electrical energy. Many direct combustion
systems are already operating commercially in the Philippines.

2. Gasification – Biomass undergoes a process to obtain fuel gas which can either be
burned in a boiler to produce steam for laundry and hot water in hotels and resorts or
used for generating mechanical power using a suitable engine. The resulting product are
 called gasifiers and are coupled to fuel suitable engines and are used primarily for
sugar, rice and corn milling and irrigation.

In the Philippines, gasifiers designed by DOST, CPU and other private entities are used
in pottery and brick making, wood processing plants, fruit and lumber drying, charcoal
briquette drying, fish, palay, corn and handicraft drying. With high cost of fossil-fuel
based energy, availability of trained technicians and sustained promotion in the
countrysides, the use of gasifiers using biomass maybe widely adopted.

3. Biogas – Biogas technology is already a commercial venture in the Philippines. This is

widely promoted by the DA-BAI and other SCUs that offers agricultural engineering
curriculum. DENR also promotes it for mitigation of wastes and GHGs from landfills,
waste dumpsites and the livestock industry.

4. Liquid Biofuels – As defined in the Biofuels Act of 2006, biofuel shall refer to bioethanol
and biodiesel and other fuels made from biomass and primarily used for motive, thermal
and power generation, with quality specifications in accordance to the Philippine
National Standard (PNS). This is when alcohol (ethanol) and biodiesel (Fatty Acid
Methyl Ester) derived from vegetable oil, animal fats and other biomass-derived oils that
are technically proven and approved by the DOE for use in diesel engines (now called
Bioethanol and Biodiesel, respectively), and blended with petroleum products for use as
fuel in engines.

5. Carbonization of Cellolusic Biomass – Charcoal is traditionally used as household fuel

and for other applications. To reduce cutting of trees from the forest, charcoal making
from agro -forest wastes is gaining public acceptance. This will put into good use the
abandoned materials that are often dumped into the rivers and community surroundings.
There are many possible applications of carbonized materials such as fertilizer, water
quality improvement, water filtration, heavy metal recovery, etc. At the same time, liquid
smoke recovery is now possible during carbonization to reduce, if not eliminate
emissions and used as foliar fertilizer, insecticide, insect repellant, fungicide, medicine,
food preservation and other applications.
 6. Charcoal Briquetting of Carbonized Biomass – Low cost equipment are now available for
community-based charcoal briquetting project. DENR has piloted locally designed
equipment and technology (200-300 kg/day capacity) for CBFM and LGU-implemented
solid waste management projects. This will reduce the volume of cellolusic wastes in the
community at the same time generate livelihood for the community.

7. Other utilization includes production of compost and organic fertilizer, animal feeds,
hand-made paper, toys and gifts and oth er novelty items.

IV. Obstacles in the Adoption of Biomass Utilization Technologies

There are significant efforts made by various agencies both government and private to
promote and demonstrate the potential use of biomass-based energy technologies. Some of
these technologies are already commercialized. However, there is perceived misconception that
biomass-based energy are not as reliable as the conventional energy sources. Some of the
barriers that need to be addressed are the following:

• Lack of info rmation as to source and type of materials, market outlet and access to the
technology);
• Difficulty in sourcing out of fund for biomass utilization projects especially for the rural
communities where the biomass resources are available in abundance;
• Lack of policies that provide incentives for the development of biomass as alternative
energy sources and/or as energy conservation strategy;
• Lack of institutional mechanism to promote biomass utilization as energy source; and
• Poor implementation of existing policies in the restriction of illegal collection of wood in
the forest for charcoal production.

V. Concluding Remarks

Biomass is an important source of energy for the energy supply in the Philippines. The
country has an abundant supply of biomass resources as indicated in the compiled statistics.
The main goal of the work is to consolidate abandoned biomass resource data from agricultural
and urban areas and make it available for analysis and project development especially for
household and industrial fuel development at the same time conserve our forest resources.
Major abandoned biomass producing regions were identified for the different biomass
resources namely, corn cobs, rice hull, sugarcane bagasse, coconut residues, animal manure,
forestry wastes, urban refuse, etc.

There are perceived misconceptions that biomass energy sources are not as reliable as
conventional energy sources. This may be caused by lack of information (source and type of
materials, market and access to the technology); difficulty of accessing financing for the project
especially for the rural communities where the biomass resources are available in abundance;
lack of policies that provide incentives for development of biomass energy resources and/or
energy conserving strategies; and lack of institutional set-up that could promote biomass
utilization for energy. These should be addressed to develop the biomass energy potential of
the country.
References
nd
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Banos, Laguna, Philippines.

PCARRD. 2004. R and D Status and Directions. Commodity Industry Situation: Poultry. PCARRD, Los
Banos, Philippines.

PCARRD. 2004. R and D Status and Directions. Commodity Industry Situation: Rice. PCARRD, Los
Banos, Philippines.

PCARRD. 2004. R and D Status and Directions. Commodity Industry Situation: Swine. PCARRD, Los
Banos, Philippines.

PCARRD. 2004. R and D Status and Directions. Commodity Industry Situation: Sugarcane. PCARRD,
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PCARRD. 2004. R and D Status and Directions. Commodity Industry Situation: Poultry. PCARRD, Los
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