May 19, 2015
http://goo.gl/8dZv3X
Roxas Pacific Bioenergy Corporation, The Philippines' largest bioethanol producer, plans to raise its production capacity by 21% by September via plant debottlenecking and by making improvements to its fermentation processes to raise overall efficiency levels, a company source said Tuesday, according to Platts.
Roxas’ bioethanol plant at Negros Occidental, operated by subsidiary Roxol Bioenergy, has a capacity of 36 million litres/year, which it plans to raise to 40 million.
It also plans to raise the nameplate capacity of its newly acquired bioethanol facility at the same location, operated by San Carlos Bioenergy, by 10 million litres /year to 40 million litres /year, the source said.
Roxas Pacific Bioenergy Corporation, a subsidiary of sugar group Roxas Holdings, acquired 26.7% of San Carlos Bioenergy from the Zabaleta Group, the country's second largest ethanol company, for Pesos 420 million ($9.43 million) at the end of April. Roxas now owns 93.68% of San Carlos.
Roxas has committed 9 million liters of bioethanol output in the third quarter to the Philippines government to fulfill the country's E10 mandate in the domestic market.
This is down 1.8 million-2.4 million litres or 16-21% from its commitment of 3.6 million-3.8 million litres/month in Q2.
Its total commitment for the first 10 months of 2015 is 36 million litres, the source added.
San Carlos produced 29 million litres of bioethanol in 2014, second to Roxol Bioenergy with 35.6 million litres. Both companies are located in Negros Occidental, where 60% of the country's sugar is produced.