Abstract
While most of the world is decarbonizing its energy mix, the Philippines has become more coal-intensive. Coal-fired power dominated the generation mix in the Philippines at 58 % in 2021, up from 26 % in 2008. Taking a cue from countries such as India, which pursued the torrefaction of local agricultural residues to replace coal, while recognizing the Philippines’ 4,450 MW of non-food biomass resource availability, technical and economic modeling of a local torrefied biomass production facility was undertaken to determine the viability of its product as an alternative fuel. Geographic market analysis matched biomass resource availability with coal fleet location, arriving at the selection of sugarcane residues as raw material, the Negros Island as facility location, and power plants in Central Philippines as target off-takers. Aspen Plus™ was used to model a scaled-up production facility based on laboratory-scale kinetic data of sugarcane residue torrefaction. Economic analysis shows that a 5-10 % co-firing rate of torrefied sugarcane biomass is achievable in 6 power plant units in Central Philippines with a total capacity of 627 MW, and the levelized fuel price at 12 % IRR is 20 % less than the average Newcastle prices in 2021-2022. With uncertain coal price trends due to geopolitical factors that influence international fuel supply and with 91 % of local coal usage reliant on imports, local biomass torrefaction can open a pathway towards decarbonizing recently built coal power plants and strengthening the country’s energy self-sufficiency.
