Malunggay or horseradish in English is a wonderful plant from the Philippines that is being tapped for use as biofuel source in the United States. Moringa oil or oil extracted from the seed of the malunggay plant has been reported to have a growing demand in the US for use as biodiesel.
A Filipino biotechnology company, SECURA International said malungay oil was tapped by the North America Biofuels Inc. last January for its biodiesel needs. The company is now completing the farming of malunggay in 500,000 hectares of farmland to supply the needs of foreign company.
Danny Manayaga, president of SECURA said biodiesel marketing companies prefer Moringa oil over Jatropha as source for biofuel. " The most beneficial part of malungay is nutrition. All the parts of the plant can be used. Whereas with jatropha, there is poisonous part of it that would be left when you get the oil. It's like nuclear waste, where will you dispose the waste?" Manayaga said.
Published by Beverly T. Pruto on April 28, 2008 10:12 PM
Jusy like Goethe said "the hardest thing to see is what is in front of your eyes". It is quite exciting to see that moringa which occurs naturally in my home town is eyed as potential biofuels source. However, like of knowledge has been a detrimental fcator in my home town. I am therefore requesting for transfer of knowledge with Secura international. i do hope my request would be granted.
With kind regards/Met vriendlijke groten,
Ahmed Rufai Dahiru
School of Environmental Planning & Building
Saxion Universities of Applied Sciences,
7400 AM Deventer-The Netherlands.
Cells: +2348066289331(Nigeria)+31616897058(Netherlands
Emails: elrufai10@yahoo.co.uk
elrufai10@hotmail.com
