Carlota Installs P420 M Boiler

March 10, 1998 PSE CIRCULAR FOR BROKERS NO. 335-98 CARLOTA INSTALLS P420 M BOILER Sugar manufacturer Central Azucarera dela Carlota (CAC) recently commissioned a new 200-ton, fully automated John Thompson boiler in its sugar manufacturing complex in Negros Province. The boiler, costing P420 million and one of the largest in the sugar industry, is part of CAC's capital program to increase milling capacity and to improve process operation and milling recoveries. Carlota, a publicly-listed company, plans to upgrade its grinding capacity to 12,000 metric tons of cane per day. CAC will also be able to realize substantial cost savings from the operation of the boiler through decreased reliance in fuel oil. Prior to the new JTA boiler, it used several small boilers which relied heavily on fuel oil in order to maintain steam pressure for its plant operations. The new boiler will result in the shutdown and decommissioning of a battery of small low pressure boilers. The boiler is also expected to meet the Department of Environment and Natural Resource's (DENR) standard for emissions through the use of wet scrubbers. Wet scrubbers are flue gas air emission abatement devices which clean polluted air from the boiler. To date, there are only two boilers equipped with this environment safety device in operation in the entire sugar industry. CAC technicians and boiler operators underwent on-the-job training at the Central Azucarera Don Pedro (CADP) plant in Nasugbu, Batangas to operate the new boiler. CADP which manages CAC under a five-year management contract is also a major stockholder of the Negros-based sugar company. dctai The company produced a total of 1.92 million 50-kg bags of raw sugar for crop year 1996-97 and it is expected to produce 2.30 million 50-kg bags in crop year 1997-98. Total cane milled reached 1.15 million tons to cane for the same period and is projected to reach 1.30 million tons this year.