STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

According to Philippine Statistics Authority, approximately 4,070 metric

tons of cacao pod husks (CPH) are produced during 2016, where in most of these
are disposed in the plantation area and considered as waste. However, cacao pod
husks can be derived into a number of products such as fertilizer, charcoal
briquettes and animal feed. (International Cocoa Organization, 2016)

Farmers utilize the disposed cacao pod husks as fertilizer however, when
rotten foul odors are released and plant disease like black pod rot is manifested.
This is caused by a pathogen in the genus Phytophthora, literally translated as
the “plant destroyer”. The pathogen generated by rotten cacao pod husks are
responsible for pod loss of 20 – 30% of the total cacao crop annually. (Vanegtern
et. al, 2015)

When converting CPH to charcoal briquettes, high amount of energy is

needed to vaporize all of its large moisture content. Also, the high ash content of
a biomass fuel inhibits the combustion process since oxygen cannot easily
penetrate the ash to reach the burning biomass. High heating value (HHV)
decreases with the increase of ash content in biomass materials. (Syamsiro et.
al, 2011) This makes the charcoal briquettes from CPH an ineffective way of
utilizing them.

Cacao pod husks are also widely used as feed for chickens and pigs. This
is produced by slicing the fresh cacao pod husks into small flakes and then
partially drying the flakes, followed by mincing and pelleting and drying of the
pellets. However, the feed has low digestibility due to low protein content.
Moreover, CPH has a toxic component called theobromine. This primarily affects
the central nervous system, cardiovascular system, and respiratory system, as
well as having a diuretic effect. A high intake of CPH can result to haematemesis,
seizures and eventually death because of theobromine. (Simon Guiton, 2005)

The problems stated above regarding CPH show that there are many
concerns when it comes to the utilization and processing of the waste product.
However, CPH holds a large amount of cellulose about KUNG ILANG PERCENT
CELLULOSE YUNG NASA RRL ____% which is potentially convertible to a more
valuable product such as ethyl levulinate. (Xu, 2015) Ethyl levulinate can be
used in many applications such as diesel fuel additive, plasticizer, kerosene
replacement and fragrance ingredient.

In an attempt to resolve the aforementioned issues, the researchers

therefore proposed the study entitled “Alkali Digestion and Ethanolysis of
Cacao (Theobroma Cacao L.) Pod Husks for Ethyl Levulinate Production”