Biofuels scientist offered work to country

by Jonathan L. Mayuga (Correspondent)
13-March-2006 BusinessMirror

When Norman Secreto discovered there was high ethanol potential in molasses he didn't think twice about pursuing a thesis that would impact on the people and the economy.

Soon enough, the 22-year-old chemist found ways to extract high ethanol content from strains of molasses which can be used in the production of ethanol products - including alcohol and fuel.

Ethanol can be used as an additive for gasoline to mitigate the steadily increasing fuel process. It can also provide a cleaner and environment-friendly alternative to imported fossil fuels.

Norman got as far as his thesis, distinguished by having determined the highest percentage of ethanol (12 percent against the existing record of 9 percent) that can be extracted from molasses - and both his teachers at UP Los Baños and private firms looking to apply his discovery are excited.

But the brilliant young scientist is dead, victim of a recent freak accident. He fell last week from a jeep where he was hanging on the running board, on his way to a retreat in Mount Makiling. He suffered fatal blow on the skull.

His professor and thesis adviser Dr. Fidel Rey Nayve said Norman's experiment would have been the most significant scientific discovery in ethanol production and would have made him the youngest, sought-after biofuels scientist in the country today.

Norman, however, did not live long enough to enjoy the recognition - or perhaps even the monetary rewards, which would have been useful to his family in General Santos City.

"He was so young," laments Nayve. "He could have done more for the country."

Nayve described Norman as their "workhorse", doing much of the job with enthusiasm and high spirits.

"He was very patriotic. He dedicated his work to the Filipino people," he said.

Despite his humble origins and the oft-repeated admonition of people for him to do well for he can provide for a family of six children where he was the eldest sibling, Norman's sense of duty to country was overwhelming.

In the acknowledgement page of his agriculture engineering thesis: "Evaluation of Distillery Slops as Medium Component in Molasses-based Ethanol Fermentation Using Biotech Yeast Strains," Norman wrote:

"To my countrymen, the Filipino people, who subsidized my schooling in this University; may you reap the true worth of the taxes you paid when I graduate. It is my pleasure to serve you all in my own little ways…Mabuhay ang Pilipino! I keep on praying…Babangon ang Pilipinas."

Nayve admits he had a soft spot for his brilliant chemistry student. The eldest of six children, Norman belonged to a poor family like his teacher.

"He was very studious. He knew that his family is depending on him to finish his studies," says Nayve.

Nayve was able to study college of scholarship offered by the state university to deserving students in the countryside. "I didn't intend to study at UPLB because we were poor. I'm from Bicol. Even if I pass the UP College Admissions Test (UPCAT), we would not be able to afford the costs of my college education," Norman's professor said.

Nayve's mother, way back in the late 1970s, was a plain housewife while his father was an employee of a bottling company. When 20 application forms were raffled off by their school to 200 students, he was lucky to "win" one application form, prompting him to fill it up and take the test for UPCAT.

Like him, Norman had to work to be able to study - despite the fact that being a state university student entitled them to a lot of benefits, including free tuition and allowance as state scholars.

Norman graduated in 2005. He worked for a computer college before transferring to the UP Rural High School in Los Baños, where he taught mathematics last November.

Nayve says Norman continued to be involved in his biotech team, doing most of the work in their biofuels program. "He really supervised it closely, that's why the results came out well."

Norman's experiment was considered a breakthrough in ethanol production. Norman was able to produce ethanol at 12-percent volume per volume (v/v), even in medium containing 40-percent distillery slops.

The thesis, which he shared with Nayve, and fellow researchers Irene Gabrido, Francisco Elegado and Catalino Alfafara, was presented at the 27th Annual Scientific Meeting of the National Academy of Science and Technology in July 2005.

It focused on the current thrust of the government to expand the use of nonoil energy and fuel sources, especially biofuel.

Norman used the simplest strategy of producing yeast strains that produce ethanol.

He explained that the expected increase in ethanol production will be accompanied by the increase in distillery slops generation, which is the main waste in the distillery industry.

Distillery slops is a major environmental concern because of their high biological oxygen demand (BOD) and chemical oxygen demand (COD).

Using the best combination of slops and yeast strain with bioreactor, Norman was able to determine potentially superior yeast strains among 10 local yeast isolates he used for the experiment.

He concluded that high ethanol production at 12-percent v/v was possible even in medium containing 40-percent distillery slops, after one of the strains performed much better - perhaps better than most currently used industrial yeast strains.

Impressed by Norman's dedication to the experiment, Nayve sees a big a possibility for industry players using the thesis in the production of ethanol - both alcohol and fuel.

Although the results of the thesis have not yet been fully validated by industry players, Nayve is confident the result of the experiment is valid and will boost production of ethanol in the country in the future.

"This is a very important discovery. He got such a potent strain for use in ethanol production," Nayve says.