The Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech) will build a state-of-the-art Bio-Processing Research and Development facility in its headquarters in Munoz, Nueva Ecija that will consolidate and greatly expand the agency’s ongoing activity in bio-processing R&D.
PhilMech Executive Director Dr. Dionisio G. Alvindia said the Bio-Processing R&D facility will cost about P50 million and will be managed by Dr. Ofer Capariño, who studied bio-processing in the United States recently. He said the purpose of bio-processing is to develop value-added products from agricultural wastes that the country produces in great quantity. Capariño is currently the chief of the PHilMech Bio-Process Engineering Division.
“This is the newest R& D agenda of PhilMech under the Duterte Administration. There have been previous R&D efforts on the part of the agency to generate useful products from agricultural wastes but these needs to be coordinated. With the Bio-Processing Facility, PhilMech’s Bio-Process Engineering Division can consolidate and expand its R&D efforts on producing useful products from agricultural wastes and even raw farm products. The facility will provide a bigger facility that will have state-of-the-art equipment under one roof,” he added.
Among the successful bio-process R&D of PhilMech is the production of food and pharmaceutical grade pectin from mango peels. The agency has already partnered with a private firm to commercialize PhilMech’s system to produce pectin from mango peels.
Also, the agency has researches in producing charcoal briquettes from burned rice straws and discarded cacao husks. Drippings or sweating produced from cacao prior to fermenting can also be used to make soft drinks, wine and vinegar. PhilMech estimates a volume of 3.382 million metric tons (MT) of cacao husks are thrown away every year.
Dr. Alvindia added that there is a potential for discarded rice straws to be processed into animal feed and for coconut husks to be made into water filters. The country produces about 18 million MT of rice straw annually and 1.8 million MT of coconut husks.
Also, discarded cashew kernels can be processed into a liquid that can be used as raw material for friction dust of brake linings and as fuel for industrial furnaces. Cashew kernels can also be processed into friction dust also for brake linings and clutch facings.
“Those are possibilities that PhilMech scientists who will be assigned to the Bio-Processing R&D facility will look into,” he said.
Dr. Alvindia further said that besides conducting R&D on how to convert agriculture wastes into products with value-added, the agency’s researchers and scientists will also develop other useful products from raw farm produce for use in either the food or pharmaceutical industries.
PhilMech also believes its expanded R&D into bio-processing will have a big impact on the environment.
“The expanded R&D agenda of PhilMech will also have a big impact on the preservation of the environment because most agricultural wastes today end up as garbage or are being burned that only worsens air pollution,” Dr. Alvindia said. ### (PhilMech Communication Team)
Reference:
Dr. Rodolfo Estigoy
Director, Applied Communication Division, PhilMech
0917-323-5378
