As announced by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the technologies they developed make use of local raw materials
thereby making it more socio-economical and environment-friendly.
What
sets the technologies developed by the DOST apart from their commercial
counterparts is their use of local raw materials that went through improvements
in terms of product or process.
The Chief
of the Technical Services Division of the DOST-Industrial Technology Development Institute (DOST – ITDI) Ms Nelia Florendo shared, “These government-developed
technologies are designed to factor in the social, economic, and environmental
benefits.”
DOST-ITDI
has been leading in the development of technologies that are both useful for
enterprises as well as the environment.
Because
the locally-sourced raw materials they use are already available in the
country, local technologies do not need to import materials. Therefore, they
have lower costs than their competitors.
Nearly a hundred industries expressed interest to adopt and collaborate with
the institute on their technologies during their recent technology offering
forums. Different technologies such as food technologies, food processing
technologies, health and wellness, green engineering, and advanced technology
were presented. These technologies were readily available for transfer or
licensing to interested parties during the forum.
DOST Undersecretary
Ms Rowena Cristina L. Guevara made a request from the participants saying, “We
need the help of the people from the industry so that every Juan and Juana will
make use and benefit from the technologies we have developed.”
Ms Guevara
narrated that there were clients who wanted to avail of their technologies but
were not yet ready to take them on and so the regional offices and facilities
of DOST will be assisting them as they improve their facilities and production
processes.
In the last five years, more businesses and
local government units in Zamboanga, Butuan, Negros, Batangas, Camarines,
Quezon, Ilocos, and even in Metro Manila area (Parañaque and Navotas), among
others, have used DOST-ITDI technologies, especially in their livelihood and
environmental programs.
R&D teams and their public and industry stakeholders were given the
opportunity to showcase and learn from each other during the technology
offering series of DOST-ITDI.
DOST-ITDI
completed 152 research and development projects in the last five years alone.
These projects have dealt with chemicals and energy, environmental and
biotechnology, foods, materials science, and packaging.
OL-Trap,
vinegar acetator kit, bioreactor, styro/plastic densifier, and ceramic water
filter are some of the projects that have already been adopted.
The
OL-Trap is used to address the national concern of dengue. The simple contraption consists of a black plastic
can. The solution (pellets dissolved in tap water) is introduced into this can
and by capillary action, moistens the board. The moist makes it ideal for the dengue-carrying
mosquito to lay its eggs on. This type
of mosquito is normally attracted to black. These eggs will no longer develop
into adults, thereby stopping its proliferation.
The
acetator vinegar production was designed to accelerate the tradition fermentation
process of producing vinegar. It can convert most sugary materials to vinegar.
These materials are coconut water, pineapple wastes, sugar cane and dried mango
spent syrups.
The
bioreactor is a high-temperature reactor-based composting technology that accelerates
the biodegradation of municipal solid wastes for its rapid stabilisation.
The
styro/plastic densifier technology involves conversion of post-consumer waste polystyrene, commonly known
as styropor, packaging materials into rigid functional products. The densifier
works on the principle of an oven having gadgets that control temperature and smoke
emission. The melted material is then
poured into mouldings for varied products like pots/planters, cat-walks tiles,
simulated lumber/wall tiles, and table/armchair tops.
The
ceramic water filter is a simple system of water purification with the initial use
of coagulants/flocculants as a pre-treatment for water (deep wells and other
sources). Then, it is followed by
filtration through layers of sand filters and disinfection by chlorination to
eliminate waterborne microorganisms. It
is culminated with the filtration by using ITDI-developed ceramic filters, which
are very effective in trapping any suspended particles.
DOST-ITDI
also offers technical assistance to the Filipino industries, providing them
with packaging research and development. They have also contributed to process
improvement, cleaner production, plant layout, test and analysis, waste
treatment, and many other technical services which have resulted in increased
production volume and productivity.