A better never heard

It truly pains me to read that one company introduced here an alternative fuel by presenting itself as “white” and others “black.”

I strongly feel that this incident would not augur well to our collective efforts to find and introduce to the consumers alternative energy resources like alternative fuels be they biodiesels, ethanols, or additives from sugar, coconut, palm and other agricultural produce.

I received an invitation from Leo Marquez of XeNith Global Network for the March 4, 2006 launching of its fuel additive. Unfortuantely, I had other appointments that Saturday.

I read on the Sunstar Network Online a week later what the product was all about and I was pissed off.

The product introduced was a palm oil-based motor fuel additive. The additive called F2020 accordingly was developed by British and Malaysian researchers. It was claimed to be much better than coconut biodiesel.

Well, I have no problem with one product being better than others. But when the marketeers of one product start to malign other products to picture their product as far superior then that I believe is foul.

Here was how our friend Antonio Ajero reported - “Palmtec president and chief executive officer Bernilo Pacheco told Davao media practitioners his product can save fuel up to 50 percent as against coco bio-diesel, which can save only up to 20 percent. Pacheco, who has written a book on how to combat Philippine poverty, claimed that F2020 is also a fuel purifier with a 100-percent combustion rate. He said that while the palm oil-based fuel saver has impressive engine power performance, coco bio-diesel is problematic. Coco bio-diesel is limited to diesel fuel only, while F2020 is good for gasoline, diesel, and bunker fuel. "Masyadong problemado ang coco diesel, mabigat ang density nito, hindi nasusunog 100 percent," Pacheco said. Tests showed that after a few days of using coco bio-diesel fuel additive, residues, called "latik" in the vernacular, gather in the upper part of the piston chamber, Pacheco bared. He said the unwelcome deposit adversely affect the engine timing, so much so that on the second month, one already needs to open the top part of the engine. On the other hand, Pacheco claimed, F2020 has flush-out power which removes carbon deposits in the combustion chamber on top of the piston, thereby minimizing if not total eradicating smoke belching.”

Well I am no defender of the Philippine Coconut Authority, the Department of Energy, and the private companies selling coco biodiesel here like Flying V, but I believe these adverse claims against coco biodiesel must be answered.

I myself cannot believe that a Johnny come-lately like F2020 is far superior than the already tested coconut methyl ester (CME), which I myself have been using for close to two years now without trouble like “latik.”

If indeed F2020 is far superior, so be it. But I believed that it should not be marketed at the expense of other biodiesels. There simply is plenty of room for many and different “green fuels.”

(Submitted as Signs of the Times column article for Mindanao Times for March 12, 2006)