Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Firm offers to turn waste to power


Tuesday, June 28, 2011

A COMPANY has expressed willingness to invest in Cebu to turn municipal waste into energy.
Quantum International chief executive officer and director for operations Al Johnson told reporters on Saturday that they presented to the Cebu Provincial Government their plan to invest in a plasma facility here to convert municipal waste into electricity and commercial by-products.
He said the setting up of the facility would be at no direct cost to the government.
“Gasification plants are one of our major industrial projects here. The company has extreme interest in investing waste-to-energy projects here. We fund, build, own and operate each of our facilities,” Johnson said.
Johnson estimated the cost of building a facility at $450 million. He said the project can generate employment for 400 locals.
“The idea here is to help Cebu eliminate its municipal waste by producing electricity and commercial products out of it, which can then be sold at the market,” he said.
Johnson said plasma gasification can turn one ton of garbage into one megawatt of electricity.
“Say for example in Cebu, if there are 2,000 tons of waste, this would translate to 2,000 megawatts of electricity,” he said.
When plasma gasification is fully developed, even existing landfills could be economically mined for energy production, environmental cleanup and land reuse.
“This initiative would also help bring down electricity costs in the country,” he added.
About five gasification plants are being eyed in the country. Four of the plants will be located in Manila in areas where there are acute problems on waste.
The Cebu project is just one of five projects of Quantum International that is being discussed. The company is also awaiting feedback from the governments of Mexico, Australia and China.
Quantum International is a US-based company headquartered in Houston, Texas. It is the holding company of Quantum Cebu Financial Management Inc. (Quantum Cebu), a new Philippine corporation that would handle the promotion of projects such as biofuels, plasma, and advanced building systems in the country.
Johnson estimates a $1-billion project portfolio in every three months for the five-year commitment in the Philippines, which also includes project such as hotel and housing construction.
“Philippines is a potential powerful country in Asia that is blessed with a talented human resource and skills. The country could emerge as a strong economy just like Japan,” Johnson said. But he said this would happen only if political problems in the country would be set aside.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on June 28, 2011.

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