DOST’S innovation hub turns ‘waste’ into sustainable, healthy products
The Department of Science and Technology’s Industrial Technology Development Institute (DOST-ITDI) is pushing “backend” innovation as a path toward a more sustainable and resilient economy with its now fully operational Modular Multiindustry Innovation Center (MMIC), the country’s first one-stop food and nutraceutical innovation hub.
The backend innovation process, done at the latter part of innovation using scaled-up machines, tests initial ideas with the objective of commercializing these technologies at pilot-scale capacity.
But the ITDI’S latest research and development facility—also called “Innohub sa Pinas” that is catering to the needs of innovative micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMES) and food and supplement manufacturers and exporters—is even doing more: the facility promotes good health and protects the environment.
The advanced equipment and processing facilities at the MMIC can produce sustainable and healthy products—oils, liquids and sauces and powder blends—using food processing byproducts and agricultural crop “wastes” (fruit peels, seeds, cores, rinds and leaves) as raw materials.
housed at the Chemicals and energy Division (CED) building of the ITDI at the DOST Complex in Bicutan, Taguig City, the multi-functional and multiapplication modular operation equipment unit of MMIC can be retrofitted to suit the different manufacturing needs of entrepreneurs, researchers and other “innovation partners.”
“I was impressed by the fact that one raw material can be developed into different types of products using the different facilities and equipment here at the MMIC,” said Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña at the online forum dubbed “Backend innovation gives new life to wastes” on March 31.
De la Peña said that “even those previously thrown away or leftovers of processing raw materials can be further processed to come up with value-added products like tablets that
can be an additional source of fiber.”
“Our investment in this facility can really be put to the maximum benefit of our fellow Filipinos who are enterprising, which is what we need today, to innovate, come up with new products and maximize the value we get out of our raw materials,” de la Peña added.
The ITDI technical and research experts, who de la Peña said took trainings in benchmarking and other advanced studies locally and abroad, are now onhand to assist entrepreneurs, particularly those from the food and herbal industries, students and researchers.
Innovating with sustainable, healthy products
FOCUSED on food ingredients, dietary fiber and nutritional supplements and beauty or personal-care products, the ITDI experts have, to date, developed 38 product prototypes using MMIC’S three processing lines: nuts and seed oil, powders and mix blend, and liquids and emulsions.
They have produced oil from calamansi seed, pili pulp and coconut; dietary fiber powder from the peels and pulp of calamansi, pili, mango, pineapple, banana and tomato; and spray-dried and ready-to-drink herbal teas—even milk teas—from the leaves of soursop, banaba, malunggay (moringa) and mangosteen rind.
They have also developed prototypes for mouthwash and toothpaste with calamansi seed oil; tomato sauce
and mayonnaise with virgin coconut oil or pili pulp oil; tomato-garlic sauce with VCO and basil sauce with pili peels and pulp oil.
They can also produce personal care products like liniments, liquid or bar soaps, lotions, creams. At present, they have massage oils for aromatherapy using calamansi oil as bioactive agent with VCO.
“We expect to serve at least one client a month or a total of 12 clients on our first year, but the maximum number of clients would depend on the scope of work,” said engr. Apollo Victor O. Bawagan, CED officer-in-charge, in his e-mail to the Businessmirror.
Bawagan said there could be a maximum of three clients at a time or one client at each processing line per day, depending on the number of equipment units to be utilized by clients.
The three processing lines are located at the center of the facility.
Complying with the minimum requirements of good manufacturing practice in terms of the flow of raw materials, clients and staff, the facility has separate areas for wet and dry storage, packaging and labeling, and batching, while providing offices for clients and a lounge and dedicated entrance for ITDI staff.
Bawagan said that among their target clients are the members of Chamber of herbal Industries of the Philippines Inc. (CHIPI) and the Philippine Food Processors and exporters
Organization, Inc. (Philfoodex).
MMIC has served two clients, calamansi juice maker Zambo Tropical Foods of Zamboanga City and Rainier Research Inc., since its inauguration on February 18. Two contracts are still under negotiation.
Within the next five years, MMIC plans to establish a regional MMIC each in Mindanao and Northern Luzon and, “alongside with the MMIC,” the Pharmaceutical Research Center to be housed at the new CED building, according to Bawagan.
Innovating for economic growth
IN her message during the forum, DOST undersecretary for Research and Development Rowena Cristina L. Guevara said that it is important to talk about the role of innovation in the country’s economic growth.
“Through innovation, we continue to think of how we can improve our products and processes,” Guevara said, citing the MMIC as one of the ways of the DOST “in finding a better way to do R&D.”
Clients of MMIC can avail themselves of its services through four modes of engagement.
First, entrepreneurs and students can use its equipment units—a machine or a line of machines—for a reasonable or standardized rate with the help of MMIC technicians and operators.
Second, they can avail of the technical services of ITDI experts who can assist them in performing tests and analyses of their products and provide consultancy and training as not all MSMES have built-in expertise or facility.
Third, for technology transfer, clients will be assisted in adopting or commercializing a developed technology subject to a technology licensing agreement.
Fourth, through a collaborative R&D work or contract research covered by a memorandum of agreement through ITDI’S Planning and Management Information System.
here, as frontend innovations, clients can use the MMIC to test their products, concepts or ideas combining the resources and ideas of researchers from both clients and MMIC.
Advanced manufacturing equipment
FOR NUTS and seed oil line, MMIC has an oil expeller that extracts oil by screw expelling. It has a capacity of about 100 kg at eight hours per day operation, depending on the type of feedstock (7 kg per hour for dried calamansi seeds or dried grated coconut).
It also has a vacuum dryer to take out the moisture in liquids (20 L per batch); a pressure filter to remove impurities from the materials (20 L per batch); two other extraction machines, the ram press to extract oil by hydraulic pressure and screw press to extract juice or liquid from feedstock; and a grater for coconut meat preparation, grating into smaller pieces about 120 coconuts per hour.
“The nut or seed oil can be the product itself [fixed oil] or as base oil or carrier oil when combined with essential oils for aromatic effect,” said engr. Joseph herrera, CED supervising science research specialist, in his presentation at the forum.
The powders and mix blend line has two mixers, a V-blender mixer for mixing fine powders and a ribbon mixer for mixing course powders, depending on the application; a cabinet dryer for drying by convection heating; a hammer mill to reduce the size and make the powder more refined; a rotary tableting machine; and for advanced powder, an agglomerator unit that enlarges light powders such as granulized coffee powder while retaining their valuable flavors or ingredients.
For liquids and emulsions line, the available machines for processing viscous liquids are a jacketed kettle, which cooks sauces and other liquid mixtures using steam, or LPG, for heating; a colloid mill for refining materials; for thermal processing or pasteurization, a retort to produce shelf-stable food products; and a homogenizer for thorough mixing of liquids to attain homogeneity of mixture.
The MMIC also has a tableting machine for making tablets with dietary fibers; a slicer for preparation of coconuts; and blast freezers for storing sensitive or highly valuable products.