Wednesday, August 20, 2008 [ manilatimes.net ]
MORONG, Rizal: The local city government of Morong is bracing for next year’s bulk of garbage from Metro Manila as a 40-hectare landfill in Barangay Maybancal is nearing completion.
Constructed by the Basic Environmental System and Technologies Inc. (BEST), the 40-hectare landfill in Barangay Maybancal is reported to be capable of taking in all of Metro Manila’s daily garbage output of 8,000 cubic meters, which would be converted into green gas through a biosphere gasification power plant to be built inside the compound.
Spectrum Blue Steel Corporation recently launched the blueprint for Zero Waste Philippines with the signing of a memorandum of agreement with Mayor Joseph Buenaventura of Morong for the establishment of a pilot biosphere gasification power plant.
Ronald Shane Flynn, president of Spectrum Blue Steel Corporation announced in a press briefing that initially a 1200 MSW biosphere facility would be installed in Morong, a small town with a population of only 52,000 people and 10,000 households. The biosphere facility will be generating about 6-700 MW of green energy per day, which in turn will be sold to electric distribution cooperatives at a cheaper price.
Flynn noted that the rising cost of energy in the country is the reason why indigenous sources of energy are fast gaining attention from local executives nationwide. He mentioned that under the medium term development plan, harnessing and utilization of renewable energy is a critical component the country’s strategy to lessen dependency on imported and polluting fuels.
The Biosphere process is a gasification that was developed by Dr. Chris McCormack. The process begins with wastes delivered to the biosphere chamber being converted into clean combustible gas referred to as syngas. The syngas is used to produce electricity in a combined cycle gas/steam turbine. The heat generated by the process can be used to produce electricity, superheat steam, heat boiler feed water and distil desalinate seawater.
The Morong local council had earlier approved Resolution No. 09 that authorizes their mayor to negotiate with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority for a possible tie-up, which would eventually make the town-based landfill as Metro Manila’s long-term garbage repository.
In a text message, Rizal Gov. Jun Ynares 3rd of Rizal said that he had also just been informed of the Memorandum of Agreement signing but revealed that the matter has yet to reach the provincial level where the board will have to deliberate on its merits, advantages and disadvantages of the said project. --Francis Earl A. Cueto
