First biogas plant in Southern Luzon to operate in Legazpi City this March

THE construction of the first biogas plant in Southern Luzon would already start its pilot operations this March in this city, the City Veterinary Office (CVO) has announced recently.

City Veterinary Officer Emmanuel Estipona, in an interview, said the plant is already 90 percent complete and is now gearing up for its initial operations.

“Once the project becomes operational it is projected to produce methane gas and high grade organic fertilizer,”Estipona told PNA, adding that the produced gas would be used as fuel to boil water for the city slaughter house’s daily services.

Estipona said that the city’s AA slaughterhouse is spending more than P1 million worth of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) every year to boil water for the slaughtered animals.

“And this methane gas that would be produced by the biogas plant could serve as substitute fuel for its daily slaughtering activities”, Estipona added.

He explained that the project materialized as it is being funded out of the P300,000 grant from the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) while the civil works is being supervised by the City Engineering Office (CEO).

The plant is built adjacent to the slaughterhouse in Barangay San Roque in Lagazpi City.

The chief veterinarian noted the project also materialized through the memorandum of agreement (MoA) signed in June 30, 2020 by Mayor Noel Rosal for the city government and Bicol Regional Director Rommel Serrano for DoST.

Estipona said that the project is one of the solid waste management practices that will mitigate public health hazard and environmental degradation while the organic fertilizers that can be produced would be distributed to the farmers for free as part of the support to the“Plant, Plant, Plant”program of the Department of Agriculture (DA).