Moringa (Malunggay) as Bio-Fuel

Moringa (Malunggay) as Bio-Fuel
by Dave Roekle

The OPEC or the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has monopolized the production and distribution of fuels. Most member countries are in the Middle East. In oil importing countries, the availability and price of oil is dependent to OPEC. As oil production and supply decreases, the high cost of fuel is experienced. It is on this reason that many researches were conducted to seek new discoveries for fuel alternatives. Most researches are concentrated on various types of plants that have fuel producing potentials. The produced fuel will be environmentally friendly as it will come from plants.

The Philipines, as a rich country in terms of flora and fauna, is seeking better methods to combat the effects of climate change. Environmental degradation is the number one problem why the country is experiencing massive flooding and drought. A new discovery by a Filipino biotechnology company in the United States has plugged the Philippine wonder plant, malunggay, as source of bio fuel.

The malunggay, known scientifically as the Moringa Oliefera, which is popularly cultivated in the Philippines as backyard vegetable and as border trees is the most useful plant ever existed in planet Earth. A good source of bio fuel source was discovered in malunggay. With this, the SECURA International has recently announced that the North American Biofuels Inc. (NABI) has tapped malunggay oil since January as potential raw material for biodiesel production. SECURA International is currently developing and planting malunggay in mass scale. At present, five hundred thousand hectares of the plant is cultivated to meet the demands the latter.

SECURA International President Danny Manayaga is encouraging all Filipinos to take due advantage of this development. Malunggay can be easily grown in the country. It can even be planted by pruning or by seeds. Once in the ground, it will easily find its way to root. It can grow with less intervention. There is no need of fertilizers and pesticides. To meet the demands of Malunggay oil supply for the bio diesel, Filipinos are encouraged to plant and grow as many as they want.

Planting and cultivating malunggay in massive scale is a sustainable business because the market is very accessible. At present, there are 165 marketing companies using soybean oil as biodiesel’s raw materials in the United States. It is anticipated that in 50 years from now, Japan and Korea will be the biggest markets of Moringa oil because of its numerous automobiles that are using bio diesels.

The Malunggay oil as biodiesel is not just matter of speculation, second-thoughts about it should therefore be set aside. As NABI has identified the plant to be potential source of bio diesel, it should erase all confusions. The institution has authenticated that the plant has passed the standards of the bio diesel.

In 2007, the Philippine government declared and indorsed jathropa plant or locally known as tuba-tuba as the source of bio diesel. Jathropa is not an edible plant. It cannot be even consumed by animals because of its toxicity. According to experts, the remnants of jathropa, after extraction, becomes a nuclear waste. Malunggay, on the other hand, is a hundred percent usable and all of its parts are biodegradable.

Moringa (Malunggay) as bio diesel will help the country in the problem caused by climate change. It will also elevate the living conditions of the poor because raising malunggay requires no big budgets.