Phu Tho Goes 'Green'

09/01/2012

The small farming community of Phu Tho has a golden opportunity as the world’s oil reserves continue to dry up. This poor, rural area may provide the world with part of the solution to the global fuel crisis by offering a unique, renewable, and sustainable alternative fuel source.

A 'green' plant under construction

The Phu Tho ethanol plant covers a total area of about 50 hectares in Co Tiet commune – Tam Nong district – Phu Tho province.

This is the second biggest ethanol plant in Vietnam with an initial capitalization of over US$80 million and the first in the north which is under construction and is expected to open at the beginning of the first quarter in 2012.

The main investor in the plant is the Petro Vietnam Biofuel Joint Stock Company (PVB), which belongs to Petrol Vietnam.

Some researchers have proven that mixing ethanol with petrol will reduce the amount of exhaust fumes in the air and bio – fuel will reduce CO2 by at least 30 per cent.

According to the document “Building Bio – Based Economy – Concept” by Assoc. Prof. Dang Thi Cam Ha from the institute of biotechnology at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, “Greater use of renewable and expandable resources offers increased potential for cutting greenhouse gas emissions”.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Luu Duc Hai - Dean, Faculty of Environmental Sciences says “This is a 'green' plant. Because ethanol is produced from cassava, it leaves more land for planting trees. The plant is being supervised by Petrol Construction Investment Consultancy Joint Stock Company.

This isn’t like other plants such as cement or thermal power plants which we have supervised before. It is totally oriented toward a cleaner environment, and saving fossil fuels.

“We are waiting to operate the factory” says Mr. Bui Tien Quang – deputy director of second consultant center of PCIC.

The global market is threatened by a shortage of oil and gas for cars, trains, airplanes, etc. Of the alternative materials, ethanol is a “brilliant candidate” because it is cheap, easy to manufacture, friendly to the environment, and it is renewable energy.

Moreover, many experts argue, using the E5 (5 percent ethanol with 95 percent petrol) is VND200 per litre cheaper than E92, and has the advantage of being a domestic resource.

Candle in the night

The upside is that the main material for manufacturing ethanol is cassava. Vietnam is credited as having earned as much as US$560 million from its cassava exports each year.

“Phu Tho has a good terrain for planting cassava to improve the local people’s living standards. Once the ethanol plant is in operation, cassava crops will be a boon for farmers", says Assoc. Prof Hai.

Many people in Co Tiet commune also have high hopes for the plant. “My children have had to find jobs in other places, I really wish they would come back soon to work in the plant,” says Do Ba Son, a local resident.
Asked about the prospect of the Phu Tho plant, James Rhodes, a Fulbright scholar from the Academy of Journalism and Communication says: “The Vietnamese government has been commended to follow examples set in Brazil and Cuba which are in the vanguard of using alternative fuel sources.”

“Your country is not dominated or controlled by special interest oil lobbies and, as such, is more free and unrestricted to conduct this type of research and development. The people of Phu Tho are as the flame of a small candle during a dark night".

By LM

Phu Tho Goes 'Green'

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