TIP’s pollution-powered battery lights up for a cleaner lake
WHEN we use light to signify hope, the fisherfolks in Laguna Lake knew this only too well since a novel source of light has fueled their aspirations for a better catch and a brighter future.
Researchers from the Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP) developed a battery that literally lights up the path of fisherfolks and cleans the polluted water from where they get their livelihood, at the same time.
Dubbed iLAWA, derived from the Filipino phrase ilaw mula sa lawa (light from the lake), the researchers developed the battery technology from recycled aluminum, like cans, to help light the path of fisherfolks and clean the lake when submerged underwater.
The researchers explained that the battery gets its power from the electrolytes in the water due to the presence of electric charges.
The battery then cleans the water by removing its phosphate content. Phospates in lake waters come from agricultural and residential runoffs, dissipating as the cell operates in the water.
The T.I.P. team, composed of engineers Niel Jon Carl Aguel, Ana Luz Callao, Paul Vincent Nonat, and Rowel Facunla led by Dr. Drandreb Earl O. Juanico, first conceptualized iLawà in 2016 to address energyrelated problems that the island of Talìm Island in the middle of Laguna Lake has been experiencing.
To date, the team behind iLawà has forged several partnerships among material suppliers for the commercialization phase and technology adopters such as the Federation ng Mangingisda ng Bayan ng Binangonan, a fisher folk cooperative that operates in Barangay Ithan, municipality of Binangonan in the province of Rizal.