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Fuel performance of biodiesel produced from transesterification of microalgae was evaluated to assess its potential as alternative fuel in diesel engine. The biodiesel was produced from transesterification of microalgae Chlorella Vulgaris using K-pumice as catalyst. The engine used in the study was Yanmar 3009D, a small diesel engine with an output power rating of 14.2 kilowatts. The experiments showed comparable power and torque when the engine was run using both the commercial diesel and the algal biodiesel. Biodiesel from microalgae was able to establish a torque of equal to 45.5 N-m while commercial diesel had 48.25 at an engine speed of 2800 rpm. Net break power of Algal biodiesel and commercial diesel are 13.57kW and 13.50kW, respectively. Algal biodiesel had been found to have higher brake-specific fuel consumption and it has a lower exhaust concentrations of nitrogen oxides, oxides of carbon and total hydrocarbons when compared to the commercial diesel. Blending commercial diesel with concentration of algal biodiesel of up to 50% did not show significant change in the performance and emission of the commercial diesel.

The problem on solid waste has been and still remains as a major problem in the Philippines especially in developing countries where proper facilities for collection and disposal are not always available. In Metro Manila alone, daily waste generation stands at 8,600 tons coming from a population 12.8M. The infrastructure has already reached its maximum capacity resulting to major upsets in environmental quality. The sheer volume of solid waste generated daily poses a big challenge for disposal options since reuse and recycling methods are the only the socially acceptable options. Incineration though not strictly banned by law has never been initiated apparently due to lack of a scientific understanding of the process and its appreciation as a safe and viable process of handling solid waste. Meanwhile, depletion of available capacities of sanitary landfills proceeds at an accelerated phase because of the sheer volume of solid waste to be disposed compounded by the reluctance to implement waste to energy options of waste disposal. In a bid to address the issue, the Philippine Congress legislated a law to require all local government units (LGU) in the country to develop a comprehensive solid waste management plan. Notwithstanding these efforts, the problem remains far from over. The volume of waste ending up in the landfill continues to be the dominant concern. Should the the problem persist, hazards, ground and surface water contamination, flooding, air pollution and spread of diseases will continue to present major problems. Hence, initiatives to reduce the volume of waste that is both environmental sound and sustainable is called for. A waste to energy (WTE) path can easily fulfill these requirements. This paper provides information on WTE developments in the Philippines seeking to encourage LGUs to consider WTE as one of the waste diversion methods in promoting environmentally sound management (ESM) of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). Complementing this objective is for the country’s Department of Energy (DOE) to change its policy on Renewable Energy (RE) to include solid waste as part of the biomass category and incorporating market driven incentives to encourage investors and waste practitioners to choose WTE as a sustainable approach in managing MSW while considering the triple bottom line (TBL) approach (Profit, People and Planet) to ensure sustainability.

In the Philippines, DENR has mandated the regulation of oil and grease, COD, and TSS for automotive parts manufacturers. Wastewaters from industries have varying pollution strength that requires efficient treatment systems of combined physical, biological, and chemical processes. However, these methods tend to be labor intensive and costly. Constructed wetlands have become a popular treatment method for industrial wastewater because of its simplicity requiring less technical expertise compared to other technologies. In this study, four vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands composed of cylindrical drums with diameter of 30 cm and height of 90 cm were designed to treat industrial wastewater in parallel experiments. The four constructed wetland units had various set-ups (with & without Canna X Generalis, with & without zeolite, with & without air vent) to determine the effect of the treatment efficiency. Water quality samples were collected from each unit, and were analyzed for pH, ORP, TSS, COD, aluminum, oil and grease. The findings show that the constructed wetland with zeolite and air vents demonstrated higher removal efficiency in comparison to a constructed wetlands without these features. The removal efficiencies registered 93.35% and 90.67% for COD and TSS, respectively.

The concept of a novel living encapsulated self-forming dynamic bio-membranes (ESFDM) for an innovative wastewater treatment in membrane bioreactor (MBR) is presented in the current study. The active filtering membrane is encapsulated, and thus stabilized, between two support meshes with pore in micrometer size. The combination of activated sludge, the ESFDM and the cake layer formed external to the filtering module contributed to the treatment of municipal wastewater. COD concentration reductions (average value of 95.55 ± 1.44%) by ESFDM bioreactor (ESFDMBR) were comparable to those obtained with a previously reported membrane bioreactor (MBR), where a conventional membrane was studied under the same operating conditions. The ESFDMBR, compared to the conventional MBR, obtained higher reductions of NH3-N, NO3–N and PO43–P concentrations. Increased removals of nitrogen-containing nutrients were ascribed to anoxic conditions reached in the ESFDM layer protected from the aeration by the external cake layer. Rate of increase of transmembrane pressure (TMP) per day in the ESFDMBR (0.03 kPa/day) was lower than the value obtained in the previously reported conventional MBR (8.08 kPa/day). Lower concentrations of fouling precursors in combination with the effective filtration capacity of the porous living ESFDM resulted in the reduction of the fouling rate. Analysis of microbiological community revealed that the microbial community structures in the mixed liquor and ESFDM were different. The ESFDM layer promoted growth of bacteria as indicated by the higher total cell count and higher microbial diversity compared to those observed in the mixed liquor.