Manila: The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) announced that bamboo pellets and charcoal briquettes, both sourced locally, show promise as biomass energy sources. Developed by the DOST-Forest Products Research and Development Institute (DOST-FPRDI), these materials offer a clean and sustainable energy source that could help reduce the country's reliance on imported fuels, according to a recent news release.
According to Philippines News Agency, DOST Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. stated, "By converting abundant biomass materials into efficient fuels, we offer a renewable, locally sourced substitute that can help with our country's needs." Bamboo pellets, a densified form of bamboo, are designed for optimum combustion and have a higher energy density than other biomass materials such as wood chips and agricultural residues. These pellets, which are lightweight and easy to transport, come in a cylindrical shape with a diameter of 8-12mm and a length of 20-30mm.
DOST-FPRDI researcher Anniver Ryan Lapuz noted that one cubic meter of bamboo pellets can generate up to 12.15 gigajoules (GJ), with one GJ equating to approximately 277 kilowatt hours. "In coal-fired power plants, bamboo pellets can be used as a co-firing fuel. For biomass-based industries, they can serve as a supplementary fuel source to conventional materials such as bagasse and rice hull. At the household level, these pellets could be used for cooking just like regular charcoal, only denser and with a higher heating value than ordinary 'uling' (charcoal)," Lapuz explained.
FPRDI Director Rico Cabangon highlighted bamboo's potential as a reliable biomass energy source due to its abundance and rapid growth. Some bamboo species can grow more than one meter per day, or about 4 cm per hour, and can thrive in a variety of environments, including poor soil conditions, grasslands, denuded lands, watersheds, and both tropical and temperate regions. "By turning a fast-growing local resource like bamboo into a fuel alternative, we are helping build a future that is less dependent on finite resources and more grounded in sustainable materials," Cabangon stated.
Charcoal briquettes, compacted masses of fuel material made from a mix of charcoal fines and binder and molded under pressure, offer an alternative to ordinary charcoal. These briquettes are less messy, easier to handle, burn slowly, provide more intense heat per unit volume, and are almost smokeless when burning. The FPRDI has developed manual and hydraulic charcoal briquetting technologies ready for adoption, opening opportunities for small businesses and rural communities to engage in biomass fuel production.
