Determining the Energy Potential of Corn Cobs in Santo Tomas, Pangasinan, Philippines through Remote Sensing

The continuous rise of fossil fuel prices increases interests on using biomass as an alternative source of energy. There are a number of biomass power plants already in operation in the Philippines, most are using rice husk as fuel. However, there are other biomass available in the country aside from rice husk such as corn cobs. It was learned that harnessing energy from corn cobs is more efficient when carried out in a municipal level. In general, this paper aims to assess and analyze the energy potential of the corn cobs produced in Sto. Tomas, one of the municipalities of Pangasinan which is among the top corn producing provinces in the Philippines. Specifically, it aims to determine whether the determined energy is enough to meet the demand of the whole municipality and identify probable target users at different percentages of availability of the residue. An accurate area of corn plantations in the municipality was obtained from the detailed agricultural land cover map that was generated using remote sensing techniques. Other data that are vital to this study were obtained from fieldwork and literatures. By integrating these data together, the potential energy content of corn cobs in Sto. Tomas was obtained mathematically having a value of about 5.54 GJ. This amount fell short to the municipality's energy demand but may still provide significant contribution if used as power source for some households, providing more beneficiaries rather than as a power source for the other type of connections