CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Over the past years, growing land pollution has become a significant problem in

the environment. Degradation of biodegradable waste in landfill results in the production

of leachate and greenhouse gases that are potential threats to human health and to the

quality of the environment. Biomass contributes to about two-thirds of waste found in

landfills but despite its adverse effect in the environment, researchers have found a way to

turn biomass into commodities (Newton, 2018).

Biomass is now seen as one of the most promising sources of energy for the future

as it produces comparatively fewer harmful carbon dioxide emissions, and it is both

abundant and renewable (T. Wang, 2019). It produces a gas that is mainly composed of

25% carbon dioxide and 75% methane (A. Wellinger, 2013).

Methane (CH4) is a colorless, odorless and flammable gas that occurs abundantly

in nature as a product of certain human activities and is a major constituent of natural gas.

This gas is naturally produced when waste products started to decompose. The

decomposition involves adding moisture and heat to these confined wastes inside a

container. It can be used as a fuel in everyday living, allowing us to conserve firewood,

coal, and other fuels. Methane gas has been used for power generation, heating and

transportation purposes and while it occurs naturally, the interest in capturing the methane

formed from decaying biomass is in rapid growth.

 Biomass refers to all organic matter existing in the biosphere. It may come from

liquid manure, feed waste, harvest waste and energy waste including industrial and food

processing by-products such as glycerine and waste from fat separator. Biomass also

originates from the wastes of private households and municipalities such as organic waste,

market waste and food waste.

Food waste is generated in immense amounts across the food life cycle, imposing

serious environmental, social and economic consequences. As food waste decomposes, it

contributes to methane and CO2 emissions that impacts global climate change (Stefan,

2012). It typically has a high moisture content of the order of 75 to 80% that sends out

good amount of methane gas (C. Banks, 2018).

In Philippines, fast food chains are one of the large-scale food establishments,

ranked third as food waste generator, with an average amount of daily food waste

generation rate of 9,426.25 kg or 3,440,581.30 kg/year per establishment (Matunog &

Awa, 2013).

The City of Malolos in Bulacan is known for its history and as years pass by, it is

rapidly becoming industrialized because of its proximity to Metro Manila. It caters a

variety of food establishments including fast food chains. Based on the initial survey

conducted by the researchers, there are approximately 20 fast food stalls located in

Malolos. As the number of these fast food chains continue to increase in the city, the threat

of food waste escalation becomes evident. According to the Provincial Development and

Physical Framework Plan, Malolos City is one of the top contributors of large volume of

wastes in Bulacan generating 210 m3 of waste per day. Large percentage of these wastes

comes from food waste particularly fast food waste as these stalls discard unpurchased
meals immediately after 45 minutes. These wastes, when accumulated, end up in landfills

contributing to landfill pollution. Furthermore, as these fast food wastes degrade, it releases

methane which is a strong greenhouse gas, about 28 times more powerful than carbon

dioxide in warming the Earth (Borunda, 2019).

The quality of the environment is gradually deteriorating over time hence, the need

for an advancement that will aid in mitigating the effect of methane gas arises. The

researchers are proposing the development of a biogas generator that will make use of food

scrap from fast food chains to generate electricity and power an LED streetlight. The

methane gas from decomposing food waste combined with carbon dioxide will yield biogas

that is a renewable form of energy. Moreover, there will be a significant reduction of food

waste in landfills as these wastes from fast food chains become a fuel in the production of

biogas instead of being thrown out.

Statement of the Problem

The main problem of the proposed study is how to develop a device that will utilize

the biogas produced by biomass to generate electrical energy for powering up an LED

streetlight.

Through the development of the proposed study, the researchers aim to answer the

following specific questions:

1. What are the factors considered in designing a device that will effectively produce

biogas and convert it to electrical energy?

2. What are the components and software tools required for the fabrication of the

system?
 3. What are the possible improvements that could be appended to the development of

the system?

4. What are the data results gathered during the testing procedures of the following:

4.1 Amount of input fed to the device

4.2 Time span of the biogas and electrical energy conversion

4.3 Amount of extracted biogas and converted electrical energy

5. What is the status of the device with regards to its:

5.1 Functionality

5.2 Usability

5.3 Reliability

5.4 Performance Efficiency

5.5 Maintainability

5.6 Safety

Significance of the Study

The proposed study will have positive implications to the following:

Malolos Municipal Garbage Collectors. The proposed research intends to provide help

in minimizing the work load of the municipal garbage collectors in City of Malolos,

Bulacan. They will not be collecting the food wastes from the fast food chains anymore as

this proposed study aims to directly use those food wastes to fuel up the proposed device.
City Residents. The proposed study will be beneficial to the City of Malolos, Bulacan

residents as the study aims to use fast food wastes as the main source of biomass and

convert these into a usable form of energy. In effect of the entire process, reduction of

landfill pollution is expected to be observed in the area thus, helping its residents to live in

an environment where there is less waste.

Future Researchers. This proposed study is also beneficial to the future researchers who

would intend to conduct a research that is similar with the biogas generator fueled by

biomass. It could be their reference in doing their thesis project and be a guide in improving

their paper.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The coverage of the research are the following:

1. The proposed study intends to utilize the use of biogas.

2. The proposed study aims to reduce fast food wastes.

3. The proposed study aims to gather fast food wastes from fast food outlets.

The following are the limitations of the research:

1. The proposed study will only include the conversion of biogas to flame and to

electricity.

2. The proposed study will only focus in unpurchased meals of the fast food that

reached their lapsed time.

3. The proposed study is exclusive to one chosen fast food outlet in Malolos, Bulacan.