3/8/2010

UPLB’s Agricultural Engineering

Research and Development Program

Arnold R. Elepaño
Director
Institute of Agricultural Engineering
College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology, UPLB,
College, Laguna

Laguna Business Investment Exposition

Enchanted Kingdom, Sta. Rosa, Laguna
4 March 2010

Agricultural Engineering Challenges

• Increase in population – pressure to produce
food
• Climate change – pressure to mitigate
agricultural degradation
• Increase in fossil fuel cost – pressure to
develop alternative energy
• Increase in labor cost – pressure to mechanize

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CEAT

Chemical Civil IAE Electrical Industrial ES

AMTEC

ABPROD AFSD AMD LWRD AMDP SHOP

Agricultural Engineering (& Biosystems)

Divisions
• Agricultural Machinery
• Agricultural & Bio-Process Engineering
• Agrometeorology & Farm Structures
• Land & Water Resources

• Agricultural Mechanization Development

Program

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Agricultural Machinery Division

• Bio-Production Machinery Design
• Bio-Production Machinery Management
• Renewable Energy
• Machine Vision and Mechatronics
• Precision Agriculture

Agricultural & Bio-Process Engineering

Division
• Crop Processing
• Energy Engineering & Thermal Processing
• Food Engineering
• Bio-Process Engineering

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Agrometeorology & Farm Structures

Division
• Agrometeorology/Meteorology
• Structures & Controlled Environment
• GIS & Remote Sensing Applications
• Waste Management & Energy

Land & Water Resources Division

• Aquaculture Engineering
• Water Quality/Environmental Engineering
• Hydrology
• Irrigation Engineering
• Drainage Engineering
• Soil & Water Conservation Engineering and
Watershed Management
• Hydraulics Engineering
• Land and Water Resources Systems Engineering

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IAE Professional Staff

Division PhD MSc BSc Total
AMD 4 4 2 10
ABPROD 4 1 1 6
AFSD 1 3 1 5
LWRD 2 6 1 9
AMDP 3 2 4 9
Total 14 16 9 39

Agricultural Machinery
Development

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Machine Vision Systems

Biomass Energy & Conversion

Technologies

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Drying Systems

Philippine Rice Postproduction Consortium

• National Seminar-
Workshop on Rice Hull
Non-Power
Applications in the
Philippines
• PRPC-designed batch
recirculating dryer

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Geographic Information System

Comparison of 1999 Actual and Forecast Annua

W E

Legend:
Rainfall in mm

< 1000

1001 - 2000

2001 - 3000

3001 - 4000

4001 - 5000

> 5000

Actual Fo

Resource and Land Use Mapping

121° 20' 121° 21' 121° 22' 121° 23' 121° 24'
Rep ublic of the P hilippine s
Reg io n IV , Pro vince of La gun a

MUN ICIPA LITY OF P AK IL

14°24'
14°24'

CONTOUR MAP

500
500

400
400
743
743
700
700
600
600
N
14°23'
14°23'

300
300 500 0 500 100 0

M et ers

200
200 Scale: 1:50 00 0

100
100
14°22'
14°22'

LEG EN D :

Bar ang ay

80
80 R ec lai m ed A re a
C AS A-R E AL
60
60 R oad
R iv er
40
40
30
30 C ontou r Lin e
14°21'
14°21'

M ain C o ntou r Lin e

20
20 80 C ontou r Interv a l
M AT IKIW
C AS IN S IN (m et er s )

10
10
14°20'
14°20'

121° 20' 121° 21' 121° 22' 121° 23' 121° 24'

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Controlled Environment Agriculture

Farm Structures

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Agricultural Wastes Management

Environmental Instrumentation

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Irrigation and Drainage

Soil and Sediment Transport

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Water Quality and Aquaculture

Engineering

IAE@UPLB Distinction
• Center of Excellence in Agricultural
Engineering – CHED
• Top Performing School in Agricultural
Engineering – PRC & PSAE
• National Center for Agricultural Engineering
Research, Development and Extension –
PCARRD, DOST & BAR, DA
• Engineering Research and Development for
Technology – SEI, DOST

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Available Scholarship
• Engineering Research and Development for
Technology
• MSc and PhD in Agricultural Engineering
• Stipend (P15k/mo & P23k/mo for MSc & PhD,
respectively)
• Research (P200k & P400k for MSc & PhD,
respectively)
• Tuition, book & transportation allowances

RDE System
DBM/UP System
DA
ie BPRE, NFA, UPLB
& AFMech ie Corn Network
CEAT Alternative Energy

UPLB IAE
ie CA & CEM CEAT
ie staff support
CEAT
Academic AMDP
ie ChE, IE, EE Student thesis
Divisions
& AMTEC support

Farmer/LGU Entrepreneurs Manufacturers Government SCUs

Agencies

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AMDP’s Research Thrusts

• Corn
• High Value Crops
• Energy
• Hybrid Single Engine Manufacturing

Corn Industry

• Very much weather dependent

• Two cropping seasons
• Small farm areas, thousands of farmers involved
• Grains are bulky and perishable
• Grains are subject to pilferage
• Manual handling in bulk
• Horizontal bag warehouses
• Many intermediate middlemen between farmers
and consumers

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Power Tiller
• with/without steering
clutch
• without gear change
• use of automotive
differentials for ease of
manufacture and
durability
• 10 hp gasoline engine

Manure and organic manure applicator

Power tiller drawn

Single row

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Seeder

• Multicrop Pneumatic
Seeder with Fertilizer
Applicator
• Tested for IPB 911,
soybean, peanut &
white bean
• For AMTEC testing and
collaborative work with
manufacturer

Ergonomics

• Anthropometric Survey
of Farmers in
CALABARZON

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Ethanol Production
• Saccharification and Fermentation of Mixed Corn and
Corn Wastes for Ethanol Production

• Evaluated the effect of pretreatment (hot water, 0.5

% H2SO4) of corn waste mixtures on ethanol
production;

• Determined the effect of cellulase concentration (10

%, 20 %) on saccharification of corn waste mixtures;

• Determined the effect of amylase concentration on

saccharification of corn starch;

High Value Crops

• Vegetable production machinery

• Mango hot water treatment
• Vegetable tramline
• Controlled environment structure
• Coconut/Watermelon sound characteristics

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Appropriate mechanization technologies for

local vegetable production

UPLB Mini Hand Tractor

Vegetable production

Roller Cultivator/Weeder

Radish Seeder

Wheel Cultivator/Weeder

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Technology dissemination

• Liliw has 300 ha vegetable

area
• Testing and training site of
IPB and CRTD
• DA/Provincial government
target beneficiary
• Presence of farmers’
organization
• Low mechanization level
Suitability testing

Vegetable washer

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Mango hot water treatment

500 kg mango capacity with biomass heater

Computer modelling of heat transfer

Temperature vs time model

Flatbed dryer air distribution

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Gravity-driven tramline
for hauling highland
tomatoes

• A site was selected based

on interviews with Liliw,
Laguna local government
officials

• Base site to be located at

existing trading post

• Estimated slope of 29o,

distance of 227 m,
elevation of 110 m from
base site

Maturity Level of Coconut

Maturity Lower Upper

Level frequency frequency
Time domain
limit limit
Malauhog 270 Hz 320 Hz

Malakanin 460 Hz 520 Hz

Malakatad 955 Hz 1030 Hz

Frequency domain

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Pump Characterization

• Shallow tube well and low

lift pump
• Performance characteristics
of pumps and primemovers
for STW
• Collaboration with AMTEC

Jatropha

Kernel
sheller

Seed

dehusker

Fruit
Shell

Husk

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Harvester/fruit picker

• Harvesting
shear with
delivery
tube and
basket
• Manual
capacity:
50 kg
fruit/hr

Dehusker

• Modified high-moisture corn sheller

• Shelling unit: drum and concave
• Husk-kernel separator: sifter and blower
• Husking efficiency as high as 99 percent
• Capacity: 2-3 tons fruits/hr

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Flatbed Drying System for Jatropha

Main components:

Drying bin made of GI sheet

Blower
Biomass furnace w/ Jatropha
shell as feed supplemented
by other biomass materials

Capacity: 4 t/h
Drying air temperature: 60°C
Drying time: 6-8 h

Sheller
• Shelling unit : drum and concave
• Cleaner/separator: Oscillating rack and blower
• Power: 1 hp electric motor

Whole kernel Broken Unshelled

MC, % SHEELING CAPACITY, WHOLE BROKEN

EFF. % KG/HR KERNEL, KERNEL,%
%
11 85 784 42 42

15 88 1837 39 49

26 68 990 32 36

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Seed Conditioner

• Continuous flow
• Rotary drum
• Biomass furnace

Oil Expeller
• Adapted from the coconut oil expeller
design
• 100 kg seed/hr
• 85 -90 % extraction eff
• 4 kW motor
• Performance affected by:
 MC
 Temperature of seed
 Size reduction
 Shaft RPM
 Percent hull removed

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Manufacture of Local Single Engine

• Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers and
Dealers Association
• Metals Industry Research & Development
Center
• Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and
Natural Resources Research and Development
• Agricultural Machinery Testing and Evaluation
Center
• National Agriculture and Fisheries Council
• Foreign Single Engine Manufacturer

Techno-Demo

• Extension of Hand
Tractor and Corn Sheller
• Dissemination to DA
Laguna ie Calamba &
Pila, DA Calauag,
Alaminos City,
Pangasinan, Cebu Bohol

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Collaborative Project
• Increasing Corn
Productivity in FSTP
Areas in Cebu
• Organic farming with
Shell Foundation in
Pililia, Rizal
• Jatropha Primary
Processing with PNOC
• Flatbed Dryer
Rehabilitation with DA
Laguna

Technology Dissemination
• Display area
• Exhibition/Fair
• Techno-Demo
• Seminar resource speakers
• Machinery Design and
Blueprints
• Collaboration with
manufacturers

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Information Dissemination

• Philippine Journal of
Agricultural and
Biosystems Engineering
• Philippine Agricultural
Mechanization Bulletin
• Mechanization Update
• CEAT Newsletter

Technology Transfer Strategy

• Private – Public Interaction
• System Integration
• Multidisciplinary
• Networking

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arnold_elepano@yahoo.com

arelepano@uplb.edu.ph

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