A multi-criteria reference bank of potential ligno-cellulosic resources for bioenergy is now available!
The online data bank is part of a three – year project entitled, “Establishment of a Ligno-cellulosic Data Bank and a Single Agriculture and Forestry Bioenergy Network” which is a collaborative project between the Philippine Agricultural Development and Commercial Corporation (PADCC) and UPLB as duly funded by the Korean Rural Development Administration (RDA). The main target of the project is to identify the location, costs and competing uses of existing agricultural and forest residues as well as grasses and municipal wastes and evaluate their potential for power/bioethanol.
With the leadership of Prof. Rex B. Demafelis, the first year of the project has successfully validated the agricultural wastes of the country with promising potential in the provinces of Cagayan Valley and Central Luzon for rice wastes, Northern Mindanao and SOCCSKSARGEN for corn wastes and Davao Region as well as Eastern Visayas for coconut wastes. Currently, the assessment and validation of forest residues and grasses are being implemented in coordination with the Peoples Organization and local government of every target provinces of the country.
Now on its first phase, the webpage contents showcase the major agricultural wastes in the Philippines including the quantity as well as the potential power and bioethanol that can be generated in several target provinces in the Philippines. On this year, online updates will be implemented to provide information on forest residues and grasses and their potential for power and bioethanol production.
The data bank will be continuously updated as the project progress. The maintenance of the site is based on the Department of Chemical Engineering, UPLB. For more information, please visit the website: http://www.lignoresource.com/ to access the data, list of experts and archives.
Mark Florence Saturnino, a fifth-year chemical engineering student, won First Runner-up during the PICHE National Student Research Competition held at the University of San Agustin, Bacolod City, last February 16, 2011. The competition was organized by the PICHE Metro Manila Academe Chaper as a parallel activity with the 72nd PICHE National Convention, Bacolod City.
Mr. Saturnino won the recognition for his thesis research project titled, “Sequential Electrolytic Copper Recovery and Alkali Precipitation of Wastewater from Gold-smelting of Scrap Electronic Circuit Boards”. In his study, he proposed a sequential process ( electrodeposition followed by alkali precipitation) for the treatment of copper-rich effluents generated by the goldsmelting of electronic circuit boards. The process is seen to offset the treatment cost (due to the value of the copper metal recovered) and it may also obtain a more environmentally compliant effluent (with respect to metals). The thesis guidance committee of Mr. Saturnino is composed of Dr. Catalino Alfafara, Dr. Veronica Migo, Engr. Maria Christina Mahilum and Engr. Jerico Aguila.
Mr. Mart Benson M. Castillo and Mr. Jomuel A. Velandres (both fifth-year chemical engineering students) are two of three recipients for this year’s BPI-DOST Science Awards for UPLB. The awarding ceremonies were held at the Makiling Garden Pavilion on March 8, 2011. This is the first year that all three awardees come from the College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT). The third recipient is Mr. William Jared Barker, from the Agricultural Engineering Department. The BPI Science awards are given annually by the BPI-Foundation to exceptional science and engineering students from BPI Foundation’s ten partner-universities nationwide. Students considered for the awards are evaluated based on academic performance and quality of the thesis research projects.
Mr. Castillo’s research was on the “Electrochemical Decolorization and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) Reduction of Colored-Paper-Manufacturing Wastewater. Mr. Velandres’ project on the “Selective Recovery of High Purity Silver from a Local Goldsmelting Wastewater” went on to win First Runner-up for the Best Project of the Year. Both awardees did their thesis research under the supervision of Dr. Catalino G. Alfafara as thesis adviser, and Dr. Veronica P. Migo as Co-adviser. Engr. Jerico R. Aguila and Engr. Maria Christina V. Mahilum also served as members of their thesis advisory committee.
This is the second year in a row that students from Chemical Engineering were recipients of the BPI-DOST Science Awards for UPLB. This is also the second year in a row that Chemical Engineering landed among the top three prizes in the BPI-DOST Best Project of the Year Award. Congratulations awardees !
