Inquirer Northern Luzon
Growing fuel for rural dev’t
By Maurice Malanes
Philippine Daily Inquirer, Inquirer Northern Luzon
First Posted 01:54:00 08/19/2009
Filed Under: Alternative energy, Environmental Issues, Forest and forest management
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet, Philippines—When environmental scientist Michael Bengwayan and his staff succeeded where government scientists had failed in propagating an upland petroleum-rich tree, he had in mind forsaken rural communities.
“Rural communities must learn to propagate this indigenous tree, extract its fuel and use it to spur their own development,” he says.
Bengwayan, executive director of the Pine Tree, a nongovernment ecological education, training, research and information center in La Trinidad, Benguet, was referring to the “petroleum nut” or resin cheesewood (Pittosporum resinferum).
The plant, which is native to the Cordillera and other upland areas in the Philippines and a few other countries such as China, has an octane rating of 54, compared to jatropha’s 41 to 43. Fossil fuel has an octane rating of 91.
Octane rating is a measure of the ability of a liquid motor fuel, such as gasoline, to prevent pre-ignition or knocking. Fuels with higher octane rating are less likely to cause knocking.
Fuel for countryside
Bengwayan and his technicians discovered how to extract oil from the petroleum nut fruit, which, they said, could be used for cooking, lighting and running simple machines and gadgets, such as water pumps and grinders.
For cooking, petroleum nut oil is not only more efficient and cheaper than firewood or charcoal. Three to five trees can yield about 15 liters of oil per harvest, and since harvest is twice a year, these amount to 30 liters, which a family can use for cooking for three to four months, says Bengwayan.
Fifteen to 20 trees can already supply a family’s year-round cooking fuel needs.
Three parts of petroleum nut oil, however, have to be blended with one part of kerosene if used for cooking.
Once it becomes popularized as cooking fuel, petroleum nut oil can free upland people from cutting trees for firewood or charcoal. This can help save and enable critical forests and watersheds to regenerate, Bengwayan says.
For lighting, two parts of petroleum nut oil can be mixed with one part of kerosene to fuel a Petromax lamp. But petroleum nut oil need not be blended with anything if used for a simple oil lamp.
As water pump fuel, petroleum nut oil can enable upland residents to draw water from lower elevations for irrigation or household use.
The possibilities that petroleum nut oil can do to propel rural industries are endless, says Bengwayan. Upland folk can use the tree oil for blacksmithing, food processing, milling grains, threshing rice and grinding reeds, grasses and weeds for compost, among other things.
With its higher octane, petroleum nut oil can also be tapped as alternative fuel for vehicles.
But Bengwayan is keen on propagating the plant for simple industries in neglected rural communities than promoting it as alternative fuel for vehicles, which only a few rural residents can afford.
This, he says, is in consonance with his organization’s mission of fighting poverty and environmental decay through scientific research and innovations.
Community control
But rural communities must secure and take control over this highly priced tree, which, Bengwayan says, is a rare species also under threat from biopirates.
For this to happen, they must learn the basics of propagating and planting the tree through seed-banking, extracting the oil and finally documenting these, he says.
“Documenting the tree’s traditional and new uses is the communities’ means of protection against outsiders who may attempt to patent its properties and uses,” he says.
Under patent rules, applicants can only seek patents for those that are new. So outsiders cannot patent uses or properties which communities have already discovered and documented.
Bengwayan says the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) can help communities protect their endemic resources through documentation before “biopirates” come in.
The Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act and Article 8(j) of the United Nations Convention of Biological Diversity protect traditional knowledge against those who seek to steal the resources of indigenous communities and its accompanying traditional uses.
As a rare species, petroleum nut is best propagated through seeds.
The Forest Research Institute of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has succeeded in propagating petroleum nut through cutting, using tissue culture.
But Bengwayan discourages this because taking the branches of the few remaining petroleum nut trees in the forests for tissue-culture will all the more lead to their extinction.
He says the best way is to propagate the oil tree through seeds and bring back the seedlings to the forests.
Propagating the seeds, however, is challenging and it requires patience. Bengwayan and his technicians almost gave up in their experiment of propagating oil tree through seeds in 2005.
But just as when they almost lost their patience, the petroleum nut seeds they sowed began to germinate after almost three months. “We found out the seed of this tree had a long dormancy (temporary cessation of growth or metabolism),” he says.
They lost no time in propagating petroleum nut seeds starting 2006, securing these in nurseries.
They have since propagated more than 30,000 seedlings, which they have scheduled to give to some 23 farmers in the upland towns of Kibungan and Kapangan in Benguet. These will be planted during the rainy season.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Updates on Petroleum Nut
To all who wrote asking for info on petroleum nut. Please bear with me. I am on travel, I will put up all the updates September 24 Thursday tomorrow. menawhile for the facts I can recall in our technoguide. those asking how much oil would be produced: For every 15 kg of ripe fruits, 40 cl of expelled oil can be extracted. Some 400 liters can be harvested from a fully grown tree every year. This can be used directly as lighting fuel in petrolam. To use it for cooking in kerosene stove, it can be mixed with kerosene at a ratio of 3:1 (petroleum oil:kerosene). If you let it undergo isoterification process, try several blending fuels. Someone asked if you have to mix hexane, the oil from, the fruit is hexane itself.
There are five varieties discovered. Seeds from each fruit range from 5 to 21. You get the oil from the fruit not the seeds, thus, you get more oil rather than plantintg Jatropha curcas. the octane rating of the oil is 54 much higher than Jatropha which is only 43.
There are five varieties discovered. Seeds from each fruit range from 5 to 21. You get the oil from the fruit not the seeds, thus, you get more oil rather than plantintg Jatropha curcas. the octane rating of the oil is 54 much higher than Jatropha which is only 43.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Save the Sunflowers
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20090706-214022/Stop-using-sunflowers-for-compostStop%20using%20sunflowers%20for%20compost%20-%20INQUIRER_net%2C%20Philippine%20News%20for%20Filipinos.mht
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Benguet finds oil treasure in ‘petroleum nut’
Link to article in Philippine Daily Inquirer
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:26:00 07/02/2009
Filed Under: Alternative energy, Energy, Oil & Gas - Upstream activities
LA TRINIDAD, Bebguet -- Agriculturists and villagers are propagating seedlings of a “petroleum nut” locally known as apisang which, they say, could be an alternative source of fuel and energy.
Michael Bengwayan, an agriculturist, said the oil extracted from the nut could be used for cooking and lighting.
More than 30,000 seedlings have been produced since 2007, he said. The first batch was planted by 23 farmers in Kapangan and Kibungan towns.
Agriculture scientists see the nut, or resin cheesewood (scientific name Pittosporum resiniferum), as a source of sustainable fuel in the Cordillera and the answer to India’s jatropha (Jatropha curcas), which is now being promoted by biodiesel advocates all over the world.
“Why does the government have to spend P125 million for jatropha when we have our own source of alternative fuel?” asked Bengwayan in a press forum here.
He presented research results on the nut that showed its prospect as an alternative fuel that, he said, could energize rural households.
Bengwayan, also a director of the Pine Tree, a non-profit organization working on ecological education, training, research and information, said the nut has a higher rate of octane, which was more combustible than jatropha.
The Benguet State University is doing research on areas where the apisang trees thrive, the germination of the seeds, multiplication of the seedlings and their sustainability, Bengwayan said.
The tree is endemic to the Philippines and is believed to be the country’s “most promising biofuel treasure, which could provide energy to rural areas and reduce global warming,” he said.
It thrives in Benguet, Nueva Vizcaya, Mt. Province, and Ifugao and is also known locally as hanga (Tagalog), dingo (Mt. Province) and sagaga (Abra).
Bengwayan said the extracted oil could be used for cooking when blended with kerosene (with a ratio of three parts oil and one part kerosene) and for lighting.
The oil could also be used to cure stomachache and prevent skin infection, he said.
Propagating the seedlings can help contribute to the region’s carbon sink, a process that helps reduce carbon dioxide in the environment and reduce global warming, he said.
Bengwayan said more seedlings would be distributed to farmers and villagers.
“They may sell the oil if they have an excess supply. But the important factor here is we are able to save and not destroy the environment,” he said.
Bengwayan’s group has established a seed bank in the village of Longlong here to keep the seedlings. It has been training farmers to maintain their own seed bank. Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Want More Nutritious Food and Income? Plan a Mixed Legume-Leafy-Spice Home Garden
Home Garden, How to Do It by Dr. Mike in the Philippines
Traditional home gardens in northern Philippines range from 20 to 100 square meters. Planted normally are a mixture of sweet potato, yam, corn, beans, and a tree or two of avocado, pomelo, and guava.
Sounds good but not so good. It is important to have a plan in developing a home garden. These tips can help you:
A. In the garden,
1. Consider where the sun rises from because you should not plant crops that will shade other crops. Do storey planting where shorter plants are fully exposed to sunlight before the taller ones. (eg. pechay, eggplants, corn). Thus, crop orientation is important.
2. Look at your soil. Does it need more fertilizer?. Reddish to brownish soils indicate lack of NPK nutrients. if you don't know how to get soil sample, the most appropriate thing to do is increase your NPK levels. What will you use? Use organic fertilizer for basal application. If you intend to plant green leafy vegetables, use compost made out from nitrogen fixing plants and trees (eg. centrosima, caliandra, alnus). If you will plant fruit-bearing veggies or tuber-producing crops, increase potassium and phosphorus basal fertilizer.
It is also important to know if your soil needs to be watered regularly or not. How will you know? Get a handful of soil from your tilled garden, close your fist on it until you make a lump, raise your hand and drop it on the ground. If it does not break freely, your soil is too soggy, you don't need to water every other day. But if the soil breaks freely into many parts, then your soil is too dry, water every other day.
Now examine your soil. Do you have earthworms, century bugs and tiny critters/ if yes, you have a good soil. If you don't see anything moving or crawling, you do a damn "dead soil", that's not too good.
3. Protecting your plant is of utmost important. But remember, if you have the right to produce, you have the responsibility to produce safe and nutritious crops. Always consider the need to make the environment safe and clean and the rights of consumers. Never try to poison both. Ordinarily, the main pests of vegetables are slugs, snails and caterpillars (of many different insects), are the worst enemies.
To rid of slugs and snail especially in your seedbeds, put a cup of beer in a can and place it at the edge or rim of your seedbed. These attracts the pests and fall into the can. In the morning, dispose the pests. For caterpillars, put 15 to 20 cigarette butts in a liter of water and let them stay there for a week. The nicotene and tar of the cigarette butt mixes with the water eventually. Use this to spray against caterpillars.
Okay guys, more next time so drop by.
Michael the Gardener
Traditional home gardens in northern Philippines range from 20 to 100 square meters. Planted normally are a mixture of sweet potato, yam, corn, beans, and a tree or two of avocado, pomelo, and guava.
Sounds good but not so good. It is important to have a plan in developing a home garden. These tips can help you:
A. In the garden,
1. Consider where the sun rises from because you should not plant crops that will shade other crops. Do storey planting where shorter plants are fully exposed to sunlight before the taller ones. (eg. pechay, eggplants, corn). Thus, crop orientation is important.
2. Look at your soil. Does it need more fertilizer?. Reddish to brownish soils indicate lack of NPK nutrients. if you don't know how to get soil sample, the most appropriate thing to do is increase your NPK levels. What will you use? Use organic fertilizer for basal application. If you intend to plant green leafy vegetables, use compost made out from nitrogen fixing plants and trees (eg. centrosima, caliandra, alnus). If you will plant fruit-bearing veggies or tuber-producing crops, increase potassium and phosphorus basal fertilizer.
It is also important to know if your soil needs to be watered regularly or not. How will you know? Get a handful of soil from your tilled garden, close your fist on it until you make a lump, raise your hand and drop it on the ground. If it does not break freely, your soil is too soggy, you don't need to water every other day. But if the soil breaks freely into many parts, then your soil is too dry, water every other day.
Now examine your soil. Do you have earthworms, century bugs and tiny critters/ if yes, you have a good soil. If you don't see anything moving or crawling, you do a damn "dead soil", that's not too good.
3. Protecting your plant is of utmost important. But remember, if you have the right to produce, you have the responsibility to produce safe and nutritious crops. Always consider the need to make the environment safe and clean and the rights of consumers. Never try to poison both. Ordinarily, the main pests of vegetables are slugs, snails and caterpillars (of many different insects), are the worst enemies.
To rid of slugs and snail especially in your seedbeds, put a cup of beer in a can and place it at the edge or rim of your seedbed. These attracts the pests and fall into the can. In the morning, dispose the pests. For caterpillars, put 15 to 20 cigarette butts in a liter of water and let them stay there for a week. The nicotene and tar of the cigarette butt mixes with the water eventually. Use this to spray against caterpillars.
Okay guys, more next time so drop by.
Michael the Gardener
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)