Dzayk’s Blog

COCODIESEL CAN ENERGIZE RP ECONOMY

MANILA

, June 16, 2004  (STAR) By Ramon Ma. Epino  -  The tree of life in the

Philippines

will soon notch another benefit for the country that will energize the economy and clean up the air. In these times of increasing cost of fuel for engines of public transport, coco biodiesel is a boon to 3.5 million coconut farmers and 20 million Filipinos dependent on the coconut industry. Add to that the transport industry.

Biodiesel is a renewable and biodegradable diesel fuel extracted from plant oil. As a natural hydrocarbon with negligible sulfur content, it will substantially help in reducing emissions from diesel-fed engines. It is now commonly used in the

United States

,

Canada

,

Thailand

and many other countries in

Europe

.

The country is fortunate to have a ready source of biodisel with its vast plantations of coconuts — 300 million trees — in 3.31 million hectares in 64 out of 74 provinces, a quarter of the country’s cultivated lands.

Explains Administrator Danilo Coronacion of the Philippine Coconut Authority:

"The

Philippines

has launched the use of coco-biodiesel (coconut methyl ester or CME). CME, compared with other forms of biodiesel, offers excellent lubricity, solvency and detergency. Studies show that the addition of biodiesel gives better combustion, less pollution and more engine power resulting in engines running smoothly with longer maintenance intervals."

Because of its outstanding characteristics, coco-biodiesel is considered first rate and highly adaptable. It lowers emission of nitrous oxide and sulfur oxide, the main contributors to smog. It also significantly reduces serious air pollutants such as black smoke and air toxics that cause lung cancer, pulmonary tuberculosis, pneumonia, bronchitis, heart attack and stroke. Biodiesel means less emission and cleaner air.

Economic Benefits To Stakeholders

To vehicle owners and drivers, coco-biodiesel’s superior lubricating and cleaning properties cut maintenance costs as it promotes more efficient combustion and less engine vibration because of its higher cetane number and inherent oxygen content. It also improves fuel economy by as much as 20 percent for more mileage and savings as it boosts engine power and acceleration.

Adds Coronacion: "For the coconut industry coco-biodiesel will provide and establish a long term sustainable alternative domestic market that will stabilize domestic price of copra. At the same time, it will enhance farm-based reintegration of coconut production, resulting in more income opportunities.

"Coco-biodiesel will spearhead the introduction of the ester industry in the

Philippines

– an industry that would create more jobs and provide potential high-value export products.

"Moreover, cocodiesel will promote participation of the

Philippines

in the potentially huge biofuel industry. and enhance energy supply security through the use of indigenous resources resulting in foreign exchange savings. It would also be possible to enhance energy supply security through the use of indigenous resources at the same time generating foreign exchange savings."

What Coco-Biodiesel Can Do

Coco-biodiesel can be used in any diesel engine with little or no modification to the fuel system. It actually improves the quality of diesel fuel because of the following properties:

High lubricity which protects the engine from wear and tear. 2) Detergency which cleans the fuel system. 3) Solvency which dissolves and cleans the combustion chamber from carbon deposits.

Simply add one percent equivalent of coco-biodiesel to the fuel in the tank. To a load of 50 liters of diesel fuel add 500 millimeters of coco-bio-diesel. For 10 liters add 100 ml of coco-diesel.

Why only one per cent? While the World Fuel Charter allows blends of up to five percent, studies show that a mere one percent mix of coco-diesel is enough to significantly reduce emissions.

Adding cocodiesel will incur additional cost, but since more mileage per liter of cocodiesel can be achieved, the savings will be about P1 per additional kilometer traveled. In effect, cocodiesel doubles the value of the expense for fuel investment.

Coco

biodiesel can be bought from distribution outlets and manufacturers/suppliers accredited by the Department of Energy (DOE). These outlets and supplier sell the product that complies with the Philippine National Standards.

COCODIESEL Utilization Project

Highlighting the celebration of the Farmers-Fisherfolks Month on May 2001, DA Secretary Leonardo Q. Montemayor, PCA Administrator Danilo M. Coronacion and other DA and PCA officials are shown promoting the viability of Coco Diesel as fuel substitute to conventional petroleum-based products.

Rationale

• It is time vegetable-based fuel from coconut was used as an economically competitive, environment-friendly and renewable fuel alternative for the country.

• Coconut farmers are likely to benefit from improved and stabilized copra prices while the environment gets a respite from noxious gases associated with petroleum.

• When fully utilized, the country and the national economy will benefit from jobs created, revenues generated and precious foreign exchange saved.

Objectives

• The project envisions to: Supply the diesel fuel requirements of the national offices of the Department of Agriculture and its family of line bureaus and attached agencies.

• Substitute as much as ten percent (10%) of the diesel fuel requirements of the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) diesel-fired power plants, based on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s instruction to NAPOCOR to explore the feasibility of this scheme.

• Substitute as much percentage as possible of the diesel fuel consumption of the country.

• Develop vegetable-based fuel alternatives as fuel of the future based on the KYOTO PROTOCOL, that seeks to lessen petroleum consumption which causes greenhouse effect and global warming.

• Complement global environmental and fuel agenda while improving the lives of coconut farmers.

Economic Viability

• Cocodiesel or coconut methyl ester (CME) is the diesel fuel substitute derived from coconut oil.

• Cocodiesel is produced using transesterification, a process that involves the reaction of coconut oil and other triglycerides (animal/vegetable oil) with methanol in the presence of heat and catalysts to produce alcohol or ester and glycerol.

• Transesterification allows production by volume and the resulting primary product can match with the pump price of petroleum diesel.

• Glycerol, the high value by-product, is a syrupy liquid with a sweet taste. It is used as asolvent, humectant, plasticizer, emolient and raw material in the manufacture of nitroglycerin for the explosives industry and in cosmetics, liquid soap, liqueurs, confectionary and lubricants.

• Glycerol further enhances the commercial viability of the technology.

Technical Viability

• Over the years, the Philippine Coconut Authority and various other institutions, such as the PCRDF, Department of Sceince and Technology, NAPOCOR and PNOC-Energy Development Corporation, have separately and collaboratively conducted studies on the use of coconut oil and its derivatives, particularly CME as fuel alternatives.

• The CME has been proven as viable to match with petroleum diesel in terms of engine performance and lifespan.

• The PCA’s on-going test on automobile run by cocodiesel for years demonstrates very high satisfactory results.

LOW COST PITCH BASED CARBON FIBER

http://www.fta.dot.gov/

The University of Tennessee Space Institute offers opportunities to participate in the advancement of low cost pitch based carbon fiber and the development of carbon based composite technologies.

CARBON FIBER PRODUCTION

- Carbon fiber is currently produced in relatively limited quantities mostly via two manufacturing processes:
A. Based on pitch (coal tar and petroleum products)
B. Based on Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)
- Current global capacity for pitch-based carbon fiber is estimated at less than 2,500 metric tons per year.
- Global demand for PAN-based carbon fiber is roughly 19,000 metric  tons per year, and total capacity is 27,000 metric tons.
- PAN-based carbon fiber is more expensive to produce, hence, limiting its use to high end applications, (used primarily by aerospace and sporting equipment industries).

CARBON FIBER APPLICATIONS

-Global demand for high-strength, light-weight and durable fiber is growing; typical applications in:

- Portable power,

- Rechargeable batteries and fuel cell electrodes

- Fiber reinforced plastics, FRP

- Energy production; windmill blades,

- Building and construction materials: concrete and asphalt reinforcements, soil erosion barriers,

- Electronics, composite materials for automotives & general transportation,

- Specialty and niche markets.

 

CARBON FIBER PROPERTIES

Pitch and PAN carbon fibers have properties that suit different applications.

The most common carbon-fiber type is PAN, primarily for structural reinforcement because of its high tensile strength.

Mesophase pitch fibers, on the other hand, offer designers a different profile.  They are easily customized to meet specific applications.  They often have a higher modulus, or stiffness than conventional PAN fibers, are intrinsically more pure electrochemically, and have higher ionic intercalation.

Mesophase Pitch fibers also possess higher thermal and electrical conductivity, and different friction properties.

There was a man who saw a scorpion floundering around on the water. He decided to save it by stretching out his finger, but the scorpion stung him. The man still tried to get the scorpion out of the water, but the scorpion stung him again. Another man nearby told him to stop saving the scorpion but the man said: “it is the nature of the scorpion to sting. It is my nature to love. Why should I give up my nature to love just because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting?” Don’t give up loving, don’t give up your goodness, even if the people around you sting…

***

I’ve done the bravest thing in my life. I let go of someone I loved so much. But as I did the bravest thing I never felt weaker, all I did was to cry and wish that I was never that brave…

***

One day, I asked an old lady why she hasn’t married. She answered, “I’m still waiting”. I laughed at her reply but I was touched when I heard her whisper… “he told me he’d be back”

***

“I hate how coffee turns into an addiction and how it keeps you up all night… how it burns and makes your heart beat fast… especially how it makes you crave for its rich and sweet promises of grains, milk and sugar… moments later, it puts you into a melancholic mood of coldness and before you realize, it has consumed you before you should have consumed it… empty. Hollow. Bitter. Then again, you crave for another cup… Just like LOVE…

***

I’ve realized that life is in deed full of contradictions. Sometimes, its crazy to be sane. You need to fall to fly. People suffer because you care. You have to unlearn to know the lesson. You have to give up because you’re strong. You have to be wrong to make things right. Nonetheless, life’s complexities are also life’s source of beauty. We have to cry in order to laugh again. Fall apart in order to be whole again, and get hurt to fall in love again…

***

It isn’t easy to hurt the one you love. It isn’t easy to pretend you’re happy. But the most difficult thing you can experience is when the one you loved so much hurt you so bad and didn’t even notice your tears…

***

We don’t choose the person we fall for or get attracted with… It just hits us like a speeding bullet and BANG! We couldn’t feel it at first, unless we see ourselves bleeding…

***

A guy heart broken tried to jump off a building. He was about to let go when a girl asked him to stop. The girl said, “Don’t let love kill you. If you jump, your family will be sad, you will never have the chance to say the unspoken words, or reveal secret feelings. And if you die, who’s gonna care for your girl? And she will be on the arms of others.” The guy cried, realized what the girl said… backed off and asked, “How did you know all of that?” the girl held his hand, smiled and replied, “Coz I jumped off this building when I got my heart broken.”

***

Never love too deep… cause someday, its like you planted a tree where its roots are to hard to be pulled… thus, its very painful to cut off…

***

“Love changed me; the way I think, the way I act, the way I decide. Sometimes I even go against my principles and beliefs in life. Loving doesn’t mean I’ll be happy always; sometimes, all it provides me is pain and misery… yet, I was blinded by strong emotions that I failed to see reality… sometimes, letting go is the answer; it hurts like hell, but I will soon realize that it’s better to see the person I love to be happy with someone else, than lonely with me.”

***

Love is not about judging or being perfectionist… Love is about accepting, understanding, self-sacrificing… and most of all… Love is supposed to make you happy – not “stupid”…

***

“It’s better for the person you love to be happy with someone else than lonely with you…” For most it’s called SACRIFICE, but I name it: BULLSHIT…

***

One day, he’ll care for me like I cared for him… One day he’ll miss me like I missed him… One day he’ll love me… and I?… might not feel the same way anymore…

***

My most hated word is PRIDE because when you have it,

-you always don’t want to be the first to do the step to be with someone

-you always try to hide your feelings

-you don’t want others to know that you’re hurt

-you’re afraid of letting someone know he’s/she’s special

-you’re afraid of losing someone but also afraid to show it

-you’re afraid to love someone whom you think can’t love you back

-you’re so aware of what others think that you can’t do what you want

-you’re not happy

-and in the end, you lose everything without even trying to have it…

***

Its hard to wait for someone who has no plan to arrive… Hard to understand someone who never explains… but its harder to live without that someone who makes hard things worth it…

***

“By the time you fall in love – it changes your life forever, and no matter how hard you try, the feeling never goes away… and no matter what you do, the person will stay with you forever…” – the notebook

***

I want to love like the rain. It pours so hard but it takes so slow to fade and when it’s gone, it leaves something behind. It cries a tearful pain, but it washes away hurt. It seldom comes but it’s just up there. I guess, I’ll just be like this – holding on, until my cloud decides to let me go…

***

Love is like rain, it gently pours… but sometimes it’s raging fast… but why is the rain so special? Because like love… you can feel it… but you can never stop it…

***

Don’t find someone who could simply sing your music or someone who could paint colors in your life… But find someone who can’t dance but is willing to dance with you even without the music…

***

How can we love people who don’t seem to make things worth at all? Why do we become so numb caring for people whom at times don’t even think of us in a day or two? Why do we let ourselves hurt and continue hoping for a love that makes us defenseless? And why do we prioritize these people who only choose us as options? Are these the reasons why sometimes in love, we end up losing ourselves…?

***

For those in love and who will be in love someday:

1. Never try to change your loved one to suit your own taste. It defeats the purpose of falling in love with who he/she really is.
2. After being with each other for so long, never forget the little things that made you fall in love with him/her.
3. Too much jealousy can kill but a little of it is healthy. Besides, its nice to know that your loved one fears of losing you.
4. Small random acts of sweetness have guaranteed tremendous effects.
5. Say I LOVE YOU because you mean it and not because you have to…

***

I told him my “yes” and I know he felt really happy. I told him my “yes” because I loved him. I walked away with a smile but deeply, my heart is badly bleeding because I answered “yes” to his question, “can you set me free?”

***

People see me as a strong, happy, and blessed person… but behind my smiles, they just don’t know how much I’m in pain and almost broken…

***

I was told not to hurt the heart of whom I loved so much… but when I was so busy taking care of that heart… I never noticed, my own was slowly dying…

***

The face can speak of a thousand emotions but it can easily mask what the heart truly feels… Don’t be fooled, for the happiest face maybe masking the most hurting heart…

***

A guy who loves me can’t actually state the reason why he does… he only knows the only thing that matters, next to his family… a guy who loves me, worries a lot when he can’t hear a word from me even after he just dropped me home… only cause he cares… a guy who loves me apologizes non stop even if he knows I’m wrong… he just wants me to be happy… a guy loves me when he understands what’s best for the both of us… a guy truly loves me when after I hurt him, deep inside he still hopes for a future with me…

***

“Communication is the first thing we really learn in life. Funny thing is, once we grow up, learn our words and really start talking, the harder it becomes to know what to say, or how to ask for what we really need.” – Meredith Grey, Grey’s Anatomy

***

Don’t let someone who loves you go away or even lose touch… cause it’s more than heartache when you finally say, “why didn’t I love you before like I love you now? Now that you can’t be mine..?”

***

You want to know what is hard? Its not when you don’t get to see the person as often as you like, not when you think of the person at night… It’s when you start to love the person yet, knowing its not right…

***

There would come a time that we have to stop loving someone… you know why? Not because the person started hating us but because the person unintentionally is making us feel worthless…

***

When you hold someone, hold them like it’s the last time you’ll ever see them and when they go, don’t make reasons for them to stay, only reasons for them to return… love someone like no one else could but you…

***

Love someone whom you don’t have to be fancy or talk in a special way, you don’t have to mind your manners or wear your best clothes and shoes, you don’t have to try hard to impress him/her… Go with someone whom you can just be you and appreciates you for that…

***

Loving is a lot like watching a 20-minute fireworks display. Exciting. Emotional. Romantic. Sweet. Memorable. But it also ends as dramatic as it begins to fade slowly into thin air. As much as you want to keep watching, there’s nothing to make it stay. In the end, all that’s left is a starless night and the fact that in this life, good things never seem to last… but despite of the imperfections, you can still choose love to stay…

***

Perfect love is not receiving, it’s giving and forgiving. Perfect love is not red roses on valentine’s day, it’s the rest of the 364 days of knowing you love someone. Perfect love is not phone calls and stolen kisses, it’s the silent smiles in memory of your sweetheart. Perfect love is not a grand wedding but spending a lifetime together. Perfect love is not fight, kiss and make-up, it’s loving the one who annoys the hell out of you… do you love someone perfectly?

***

Love is when you walk all the way to the other side of the classroom to sharpen your pencil in order to walk by him/her. Then you realize that your pencil is a mechanical one…

***

7 wonders of falling in love: meeting, knowing, accepting, loving, understanding, letting go when you have to and remembering when it’s gone…

***

Find a guy who’ll kiss you just before the traffic light turns green, who closes his eyes when he hugs you, who’ll patiently wait for you after class, who’ll smell your hair every chance he gets, who’ll wipe your sweat with his hanky, who’ll sing your favorite song even if he can’t carry a tune, who lets you rest over his shoulder, who lets you sleep on his lap and will give you the first and last bite on his burger, who’ll squeeze your hand tighter when you squeezed his… Find someone who occupies your dream every night and when you do, never let go…

***

How to get over love…

-say goodbye but never say hello again…

-forget but never regret…

-pick up the pictures but never put them back…

-feel the pain but never keep it…

-move on…

***

To renovate a house, someone in

Japan

had to tear the wall open. After he did, he found a lizard stuck because a nail was hammered into one of its feet. He pitied the lizard and was curious. When he checked the nail, turns out, it was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built. He wondered how this lizard survived 10 years without moving. Later, another lizard came, with food in its mouth. He was amazed. The newcomer lizard had been feeding the stuck one for the past 10 years. What can love and friendship do? It can do wonders and miracles…

***

Don’t be bitter and full of hatred when the one you love decided to leave you. Ask, listen and let go. Don’t force yourself to understand when you can’t, to fight hard when obviously it’s over and to play deaf to the nagging truth that what you’ve had doesn’t work and won’t work anymore. Instead, say “I had loved more than you’d think I would but I feel sorry that you’ve lost your chance to be loved more than you would ever feel in your life after this…”

***

LOVE? It is trusting yourself with someone who had seen you at your worst and loves you anyway. It’s teasing each other and laughing at inside jokes nobody but only the two of you understand. It is feeling safe enough to talk about anything and having the patience to work out disagreements. It is realizing that you can’t afford to lose that person after you two blown anger at each other. It means counting on someone who sympathizes when you had a bad day…

***

Guy: “I broke up with her today. I told her I wasn’t happy. She didn’t even ask why. I thought she would ask me to stay but she didn’t. She just let me go. And just like that, I lost the girl I’ve been dreaming for so long.”

Girl: “He broke up with me today. He sad he wasn’t happy, I was too hurt to ask why. I wanted to stop him from leaving but if he’s not happy with me, there’s no way I can make him stay. So I just let him go, just like that, I lost the guy I waited for so long.”

***

Love is when you sit beside someone…

Doing nothing…

Yet…

You feel perfectly happy…

***

When you love, never stick to what your heart feels. Remember that sometimes, using your brain is a necessity. Next, never use your eyes to cry for the person who hurt you. Instead, use it to search for the right one. Lastly, don’t be scared breaking up. Keeping a relationship without love is just a waste of time. Take note, love the one who will fight for you and bravely face each and every consequence. Someone whom you can call “mine” rather than “ideal”.

***

In life, we always search for answers because we want to prove ourselves that we had the right decisions, but the truth is we can’t search for what’s not there. Things happen because it’s meant to happen. That’s why we forgive people even if they hurt us, we love people who don’t love us and we smile despite every painful crash in our hearts. At the end of the day, the lessons we get are the answers to our decisions…

***

Once there was a butterfly in my palm, but I let it fly. Not because I don’t love it but because I wanted it to enjoy the flowers and the bees. Keeping it in my palm won’t make it the best butterfly it can be, so from a distance, I’m happier watching it fly and play in the garden while the sun is still shining cause when the rain comes, I know, if it’s me it truly loves, it will fly back to my hand…

***

Here’s a sweet truth: “Someday, someone will walk into your life and make you realize why it never worked out with anyone else.”

***

There’s nothing wrong with being single. It’s actually nice to be free… I can wear whatever I want, I can just be my plain old self… but to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t mind having someone walk me home… I wouldn’t mind wanting to look good or trying to be better for someone… I wouldn’t mind letting someone hold me when I’m just too weak to go on… It’s nice to be free… but I wouldn’t mind being bound to someone who loves me… it’s nice to be free… but I wouldn’t mind to be taken…

***

A strong person is not the one who doesn’t cry, but the one who knows how to be quiet, sheds a tear for a moment, then picks up his sword and fights again…

***

You yearn for someone not because you want to be complete. But because you want to add more color to your life. That person mustn’t necessarily break thru your busy sked. That person must inspire you to manage your time well instead. You see, its not a matter of distance and time. Its more like friendship in a higher level. Its smiling alone every once in a while. Knowing that somewhere, somehow, someone smiles at the thought of you…

***

Silence doesn’t always mean yes, it may also mean no but it’s better left unsaid… Anger doesn’t always mean hatred, it could just be a means of coping… Laughter doesn’t always mean happiness, sometimes it’s just a mask… Tears don’t always mean sorrow, they may also be an outlet of joy… Staying away doesn’t always mean it’s the end, it may also mean the best beginning… And life, though it’s so complex, it’s always beautiful…

***

Smile. It makes a world of difference.

Dance. Who knows when you won’t be able to?

Cry. Holding those emotions inside is bad for you.

Kiss. It’s one of the most wonderful things in this world.

Laugh. What’s the point in hiding happiness?

Frown. Why not let them know you’re unhappy?

Apologize. You don’t wanna lose friends.

Hug. There’s no better feeling than being wrapped up close to someone you love.

Live. Because life is everything.

***

“If you love someone, just say it… right there… out loud. Otherwise, the moment passes you by.” – MY BESTFRIEND’S WEDDING

***