Here’s an interesting article at Motoring Today’s column pointing out that E10 (fuel with 10% ethanol mixture) is not safe for use with carbureted vehicles since the ethyl alcohol can corrode the aluminum parts of the carburetor.

I guess the best answer to this question, on whether you car is E10 ready, is to ask the manufacturer. Its only recently that the Biofuels Law of the Philippines was passed mandating gasoline retailers to sell at the pumps biofuel mixed fuels so we can’t really tell whether the cars are indeed ethanol ready. Considering that making a car ethanol ready carries a cost with it that the car manufacturers could have done without since ethanol fuel was not an option at the pumps at that time.
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The very influential Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has announced its opposition to the biodiesel project of Pacific Bio-Fields Holdings.

Specifically stating that its planned use of over 600,000 hectares of government owned land as being exploitative and having a negative effect on landless farmers and fisherfolk who have yet to benefit from the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

CARP is a law that gives land to the landless in the form of favorable rates of payment that the farmer should payback in a span of 25 years. According to the law, idle public lands and most agricultural lands can be subjected to CARP.
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National Biofuels Board (NBB) vice chairman and Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) administrator, Rafael Coscolluela, said that the Philippines will need to build eight bioethanol plants with an average capacity of 30 million liters/year inorder to meet the required 208 million liters of bioethanol for 2009 as defined in the country’s Biofuel Law.

In line with this, the NBB is encouraging foreign investors to come in an invest in the emerging biofuel industry of the Philippines. The biofuel law itself offers fiscal and other incentives to investors in the Biofuel Industry.
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Pacific Bio-Fields Holdings PLC of Japan has committed to a joint venture with local company, Bio-Energy NL Inc. (BENLINC), for a P3.5 Billion biodiesel processing plant that will churn out 24,000 tons of coconut methyl esthers (CME) a year.

Construction of the biodiesel processing plant is said to start by August and will be finished by December of this year. Both companies have already started planting coconut trees for the project in an 1,500-hectare forest located at Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.
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PNOC-Alternative Fuels Corp. (PAFC) recently signed an agreement with the Ilog Diversified Multi-Purpose Cooperative and Katilingban Sang Katawhan Sa Katayoyon Nga Kauswagan Sa Kabankalan Inc.(5K) to establish a 1,000-hectare jatropha curcas plantation in Negros Occidental. Jatropha Curcas is a very hardy plant that grows easily on infertile ground and its seeds could be used to make biodiesel.
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Chemrez Technologies Inc., the country’s pioneering biodiesel manufacturer has announced cash dividends worth about P119 million for registered stockholders starting July 6,2009.

This is 32% of the company’s 2008 net income and is said to reflect the full year impact of ChemrezTech’s wholesale biodiesel market income after the passage of the Biofuels Act in 2007.
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