Gasoline oils are very much in demand in the Philippines, especially in the transports companies and local oil companies. These companies heavily depend on foreign gasoline oils or imported oils for adequate supply and are spending not only billions but trillions of dollars for the import of gasoline oils. The Philippines rank___among the oil importing countries, garnering 0. 77% of the world’s import share and practically imports more than 90% of the countries requirements.
Given the outlook for the continuing economic crisis of the country, one will assume that the price for gasoline oils is also likely to grow, as lesser money becomes available for discretionary funding. It is therefore timely and relevant to further develop and explore the oil bearing plants to lessen the country’s dependence on imported oils. Moreover, tuba-tuba plant is an important oil component in soaps preparation. It is also used in fumigating houses to expel bugs. In addition it has been said that tuba-tuba is an important feedstock for the production of biofuels.
This study, therefore was conducted in order to develop a new product, the biogas, using the fruits from tuba-tuba so as to save on imported and most importantly increase local employment and help the economy to grow. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM This study was conducted to test the effectiveness of the tuba-tuba plant in producing biogas which can be an alternative source of gasoline. Specifically, it aims: a) To know if there is really flame produce by the biogas digester. b) To determine the colour of the flame for us to identify the type of flame produce by the biogas digester c) To know how long the flame from the biogas digester will last.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY Nowadays the price of the gasoline is becoming more expensive due to the reason that any parts of the world are now experiencing the so called economic crisis. The higher and good class of gasoline however, are very costly, and could cost up to $3. 00 for a gallon of gasoline because of the increasing demands and needs of gasoline in our every day life. Other alternative sources like coco diesel and the gemilina plants have not been totally proven to be effective. Tuba-tuba plants on the other hand are easily available from any part of the Philippines.
There will be sufficient amount of biogas that will be readily available to substitute the expensive gasoline that we are currently using. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY This study was conducted at the Brgy. Tubod Iligan City and it focused on testing the effectiveness of tuba-tuba fruits in producing biogas as alternative source of expensive gasoline. Tuba-tuba was gathered from Brgy. Tambacan Iligan City and only those ripen fruits were gathered and it was placed on the biogas digester to under go anaerobic decomposition.
The researcher placed the set-up in a warm location such as in a sunlit window they wrapped the outside of the container in a black plastic or construction paper to discourage algae from growing inside the container. Observations were done for a week –after almost all of the fruits were totally decomposed. CHAPTER II Review of Related Literature Biomass alone currently meets 57% of the national energy demand, (Tata, 1998) yet is rarely featured in any ‘official’ statistics of energy use, given perhaps its scattered nature, and its low status as fuel. Indeed, according to statistics, in 1995, 63. % of India’s energy production was from its reserves of low-grade coal, 18. 6% from petroleum, while hydroelectricity, natural gas and nuclear accounted for 8. 9%, 8. 2%, and 1% respectively (EIA, 1998). India’s overall energy production in 1995 was approximately 8. 8 quadrillion Btu (quads), while consumption was 10. 5 quads.
India’s energy demand is increasing, and its inability to step up production to meet demand, has increased India’s reliance on costly imports, the gap between consumption and production projected to widen into the next century, as demand for energy is projected to grow at an annual rate of 4. % – one of the highest in the world (EIA, 1998). Energy for developing industries, transport, and a drive towards the electrification of India over the last three decades of an expanding residential sector, so that currently, a great percentage of villages in the subcontinent have access to the grid- as much as 90%, according to recent figures (EIA, 1998), have contributed to the energy production deficit.
However, as mentioned earlier, the conventional statistics do not take into account the informal and unorganised use of biomass, which is reputed to account for 57% of total energy, therefore, effectively energy from biomass more than equals the marketable energy production of 8. 8 quads (However, given the inherent difficulty in estimating such a figure, there must be a wide margin of error, potentially). Fuelwood is the primary source of biomass, derived from natural forests, plantations, woodlots and trees around the homestead (Agarwal, 1998).
Alarm regarding the state of India’s forests, which were being lost at an estimated rate of 1. 5 million hectares (Mha) in the early 1980’s has kick started an intense afforestation and forest regeneration scheme that attempts to share management of forest resources between the forest department and local user communities. Afforestation appears to be showing up on satellite images on the subcontinent (Hall and Ravindranath, 1994), but whether ultimately, more fuelwood will be available to rural communities, will be more a political question.
Van Helmont’s concept of gas, a word he coined from the Greek chaos, was an integral part of his water-ferment theory of matter. He recognized gases as specific individual chemical entities distinguished from air, but here the comparison with the modern chemical idea of gas ends. A gas to Van Helmont was primal water modified by a specific ferment: each body in nature contains such a gas and under specific conditions, for example, by heating, this gas can be liberated. Van Helmont described the production of such a gas. After burning 62 pounds of charcoal, only 1 pound of ashes remained.
He assumed the other 61 pounds had changed into a wild spirit or gas (he called it gas sylvestre) that could not be contained in a vessel. He obtained the same gas by burning organic matter and alcohol and by fermenting wine and beer. Ferments also play a major role in Van Helmont’s biological and medical theories. He hypothesized that each of the principal organs of the body contained an individual ferment which controlled and directed the function of that organ, particularly the assimilation of foodstuff into the tissue of the body. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE DEPENDENT VARIABLE PRODUCTION OF TUBA-TUBA FLAME FRUITS (DIGESTER) COLOR OF THE FLAME DURATION OF THE FLAME Research hypothesis 1. Fruits of tuba-tuba were able to produce flame. 2. There is a color red flame produces and indicates that tuba-tuba fruits produce a strong flame. 3. The flame from the digester last for 10-12 seconds. Null hypothesis 1. There is no flame produce from the digester. 2. The color of the flame produced is yellow which shows the weakest type of flame. 3. The flame produced doesn’t last longer than 5 seconds.
DEFINITION OF TERMS: • FLAME COLOR-Flame color depends on several factors, the most important factor determining color is oxygen supply and the extent of fuel-oxygen “pre-mixture”, which determines the rate of combustion and thus the temperature and reaction paths, thereby producing different color hues. The color of the flame indicates how hot the flame is. • BIOGAS-typically refers to a gas produced by the biological breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. Biogas originates from biogenic material and is a type of biofuel. BIOGAS DIGESTER-refer to the biogas reactor vessel which is the location in all Anaerobic Digestion Plants where the digestion, (which is the biological reaction in which anaerobic decomposition takes place), and is also known as a fermenter. • ANAEROBIC DIGESTION-s a series of processes in which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. It is widely used to treat wastewater sludges and organic waste because it provides volume and mass reduction of the input material. • METHANE-is a chemical compound with the molecular formula CH4.
It is the simplest alkane, and the principal component of natural gas. • RENEWABLE-is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat—which are renewable (naturally replenished). Chapter III-Methodology This chapter is composed of the different materials and the step by step description of the procedures and quality testing of the experimental biogas made from jatropha curcas. Materials: The materials are plastic tube, tuba-tuba fruits, copper tubing, and Mylar or helium balloon, and sealant.
Building of the biogas digester: The researcher made first a simple biogas digester that serve as the storage of for the tuba-tuba fruits. A copper tubing of __cm was inserted to the mylar or helium balloon leaving about 2cm from the neck of the balloon, inflate the balloon and the air should be able to escape easily through the tube. A small hole in the center of the cap of the bottle is made using a drill or nail, added a few sealant around the hole, the other side of the copper tube was inserted into the cap.
Another hole was made on the side of the container, added a few sealant around the hole, the plastic tube was inserted into the hole and free end of the plastic tube was put in a jar of water to seal it. Anaerobic decomposition: After building the simple biogas digester, the gathered fruits of tuba-tuba were placed on the digester enough to fill almost ? of the container, fill the rest of the digester with 4 liters of water mix it up and close the container and seal using sealant to under go anaerobic decomposition.
