CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, (PNA) — A United States-based firm is eyeing to invest more than $ 450-million for the establishment of a provincial plasma waste treatment facility for the processing and disposal of municipal and industrial solid wastes of the province.
Through a joint venture agreement between the provincial government and the Quantum International Group, Inc., the funds will be used for the construction of the plant, the purchase, importation and set up of all plasma equipment, and as compensation for the technology required in the plasma processing.
Merlinda Cantero, vice president of Quantum Philippines Property Holdings and Management, Inc. said that the proposed plasma gasification plant needs at least 2,000 metric tons of municipal and industrial wastes daily to produce power supply not only in the province but in some parts of Central Luzon.
Cantero said they are willing to discuss the proposal and investment to the local officials led by Governor Lilia G. Pineda in the near future to help solve the garbage mess in Pampanga.
Cantero said the plant has the capacity to process and treat wastes that will help address the growing volume of municipal and industrial solid wastes.
It was learned that they are expecting to put up at least 10 plasma gasification plants and close the deals mostly with local government officials of their target provinces within two years.
Cantero said their US- based firm is hoping that the local government units would be able to see the value of the technology would address not only garbage disposal problems but also power supply concerns.
She said the processing of 2,000 metric tons of wastes could generate 2,000 megawatts.
She said the local governments may choose what products they wanted to produce from the plasma gasification plant.
The plant could be used to produce not only electricity but also gasoline, kerosene and biofuels.
She said Quantum is open to partnership arrangements with local companies.
But, she said the US based firm could proceed with the project alone as it has the technical and financial capabilities to do so.
Cantero said the only thing that they require from the local government unit is garbage as they need a long-term contract – a minimum of 2,000 tons per day.
“Quantum needs to sell electricity at market rates. We believe that the more electricity we generate from the plasma facilities, prices will come down eventually,” she added.
She said the benchmark investment will be $ 450-million for a plasma plant that can gasify 2,000 metric tons of garbage.
“The plasma technology gasifies materials like coal and industrial waste at 5,000 to 7,000 degrees Celsius, then converting it to electricity. For every metric ton of garbage, Quantum can produce 800 kilowatts up to one megawatt of electricity,” she explained.
Cantero said the responsibility of the local government units is to ensure the daily supply of garbage from all the municipalities and cities of the province.
Based on the proposal, the 10 percent of the plasma treatment plant will be owned by the province while the other 90 percent will be the ownership of the company
The Quantum is now building plants in Brunei, Malaysia, Bangladesh and South Africa.
The company will fund, own and operate plasma gasification plants while allotting 10 percent of net revenues to host province.