Sharla Jay Samaniego Trinidad

BS Chemistry III

Albay Agro Industrial Development Corporation

(ALINDECO)

Albay Agro-Industrial Development Corporation (ALINDECO) is an industry leader in the

manufacture of abaca pulp sheets. It was established as a corporation on June 16, 1976 and
for the last three (3) decades, has been supplying quality abaca pulp sheets to the
international market. ALINDECO is an ISO 9001-2008 certified company. Because its pulp is
also used for food-grade specialty paper, the plant and its products are HALAL-Certified as
well.
The Industrial Chemistry class of Prof. Noemi Madrid conducted an educational field trip
to Alindeco last January 22, 2015 at Malinao, Albay. The purpose of this field trip is to introduce
the students on how industrial plants look like and its processes. The trip widen the minds of the
students on what will be their jobs in the near future and to familiarize them on the different
machineries that they will tackle someday. This also shows them the advantages and
disadvantages in dealing with industrial plants and how this industrial plant contributes to the
nations economy and needs.
ALINDECO manufacturing plant, as it is specifically designed, caters to different nonwood fibers abaca, sisal, kenaf and other leaf fibers. Strategically located in the eastern portion
of Albay, it boasts of sufficiency for clean water and ample electrical and abaca supply.
Manned by highly capable and competent technical personnel applying sensitive
process operations control, ALINDECO production facilities are capable of producing superior
quality pulp of different grades based on customers specified requirements.
ALINDECO was introduced to us by their head quality analyst Ms. And started the
lecture. They are owned by Japan so we didnt have a chance to visit their manufacturing
processes and machineries. Alindeco focuses on Abaca Pulp production to be distributed
mainly on Japan, China, Germany and USA. They own their own electricity energy substation, a
biomass boiler and pulp mill.
Abaca (Musa Textilis Nee), commercially known as Manila hemp, is indigenous to the
Philippines and is the strongest among natural fibers. It is three times stronger than coniferous
fiber and is far more resistant to salt water decomposition than most vegetable fibers. It belongs
to the family Musaceae and looks like the banana plant except that its leaves are shinier,
narrower and more tapered. The Philippines is presently the world largest producer of abaca,
supplying the majority of the total world abaca requirement.

Abaca fiber has remarkably high physical strength properties such as tensile, burst,
folding, tear and inter-fiber bonding strength, which are primarily due to its high Runkel ratio (the
ratio of two times the fiber cell wall thickness over the fiber cell lumen width)
The production was discussed to us by starting with the raw materials mainly the Abaca
Fiber coming from different distributors like overseas and locally. The process starts from
loading the fiber and cooking it into the digester with 5.6 tons of maximum capacity. Then the
fibers will be pressed by cylinder and washed by beaters. It will be screened and goes directly to
the pulping machine. Then it will be conveyed to the sheet making and pressed, dried, cut and
finished. The product will be a sheet of Abaca Pulp. This will now be checked and transported in
and out of the country.
The Abaca fiber sample was showed to us and our questions was entertained gratefully
while we are having our free snack from their company. All in all, the trip was great though we
didnt have a chance to roam their plant.