Alvin B. Culaba

De La Salle University | DLSU · Department of Mechanical Engineering

Small modular reactors are highly-touted as the next-generation nuclear reactors that can provide alternatives to baseload energy sources such as coal and gas. Lesser dependence on these energy resources may enable faster development in poorer countries. The small modular reactors’ modularity allows for faster construction times vis-à-vis large rea...

This study presents a machine learning application for generating synthetic building electrical load profiles. The implementation followed the Cross Industry Standard Process for the development of Machine Learning Applications with Quality assurance methodology, or CRISP-ML(Q) framework, to ensure a systematic machine learning development process....

The paper describes the application of micro hydro power to improve the quality of life of people in rural areas. In this paper, two case studies in the Philippines are presented. One case study is a micro hydro power plant located in Parina in the north of the Philippines developed by an academic institution, De La Salle University; it utilises si...

Extreme weather conditions such as heavy rainfalls have been wreaking havoc not only in urban areas but also in an entire watershed. The development of a flood management plan and flood mitigating structures to alleviate the impacts of flooding is very crucial because it needs intensive and continuous historical data. However, missing data due to e...

The correlation analysis of fuel property indicators is essential to explore the variation and principle of the torrefied biochar evaluation. This study adopts numerous indicators concerning torrefaction parameters to assess and analyze the relationship between different fuel properties. Good linear distributions are obtained between most indicator...

This study aimed to investigate the thermodynamics of ammonia combustion at engine conditions and subsequent selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) of the products, emphasizing the production of nitrogen oxides (NOX) through the minimization of Gibbs free energy. The results showed a good correlation with existing research about ammonia combustio...

In rice cultivation, crop yield and productivity rely on the efficient supply of nitrogen. Mismanagement of nitrogen, such as insufficient and oversupply, lowers the plant vigor and stability. Using next-generation sequencing, transcriptome mining can discover nitrogen-responsive genes, regulators, and markers that can be used to improve the nitrog...

The decarbonization of the energy industry is one of the key pillars in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. The energy generation industry is an important driver in the development of nations. Small modular reactors (SMRs) are considered an affordable energy generation technology that can provide clean energy that is compar...

The increase in worldwide demand for energy is driven by the rapid increase in population and exponential economic development. This resulted in the fast depletion of fossil fuel supplies and unprecedented levels of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. To valorize biomass into different bioproducts, one of the popular and carbon-neutral alternatives i...

Many energy-intensive processes are employed to enhance biomass fuel properties to overcome the difficulties in utilizing biomass as fuel. Therefore, energy conservation during these processes is crucial for realizing a circular bioeconomy. This study develops a newly devised method to evaluate SCG biochars’ higher heating value (HHV) and predict m...

This study presented a novel methodology to predict microalgae chlorophyll content from colour models using linear regression and artificial neural network. The analysis was performed using SPSS software. Type of extractant solvents and image indexes were used as the input data for the artificial neural network calculation. The findings revealed th...

Root foraging is affected by environmental stimuli that dictates its propagation vector. Multiple-root interaction has the potential to provide relevant information about asynchronous systems like the natural soil system. In this study, tomato root was used as the information producing element in three fabricated three-input-three-output negative c...

Intelligent battery management system in a smart farm has a very significant role for energy management. It gives the energy demand status of the entire farm, the available energy produced by the PV system, and the energy stored in the batteries. However, it is important that energy monitoring system to be efficient, most especially in optimizing t...

By early 2020, COVID-19 has caused a global pandemic which led to an enormous number of challenges worldwide in various sectors. The Philippine government has implemented multiple quarantine guidelines and travel restrictions to ensure the people’s health and safety. However, the International Labour Organization projected an initial economic and l...

Due to the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine government encouraged enterprises and businesses to utilize flexible work arrangements such as work-from-home (WFH) or telecommuting setup. Nowadays, the key components necessary for a telecommuting include a WiFi-enabled IT equipment, secured work environment, and reliable internet connect...

Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO 4 ) has become the top choice battery chemical in photovoltaic (PV) system nowadays due to numerous advantages as compared to lead acid batteries. However, LiFePO 4 needs a battery management system to optimize energy utilization. State of charge (SoC), state of health (SoH), cell balancing, remaining useful life are...

Despite many advantages of third-generation biofuels, there are still numerous opportunities to improve their production efficiency and streamline their commercialization. The unpredictability of cultivating biomass is a major challenge to consistent, efficient production. In particular, the cultivation of Spirulina platensis biomass for biofuel pr...

Microalgal biorefineries represent an opportunity to economically and environmentally justify the production of bioproducts. The generation of bioproducts within a biorefinery system must quantitatively demonstrate its viability in displacing traditional fossil-based refineries. To this end, several works have conducted life cycle analyses on micro...

Urban stormwater has become a persistent concern on a global scale due to its adverse environmental implications. It is the prime vector of aquatic contaminants worldwide that causes pollutants when water bodies drain. Bioretention systems are increasingly used to alleviate setbacks associated with stormwater run-off in urban locales. It has played...

In algal biofuel production, drying of the microalgal biomass is considered the most energy-intensive process. To save on operating costs, optimal control of the drying process should be guided by accurate mathematical models of the biomass parameters, particularly its moisture content. In this paper, we propose the use of Gaussian process autoregr...

Thermal stress plays an important role in the lifetime of thermoelectric generators and its minimization can prolong the usage of the generators. To figure out and efficiently lower the thermal stress, this study analyzes the thermoelectric performance and thermal stress of a thermoelectric module in a waste heat recovery system. The performance of...

Biochar is a promising material and fuel for environmental sustainability. Microalgal biochar is produced using catalytic microwave torrefaction of Chlorella vulgaris FSP-E residue with magnesium oxide as a microwave absorber to enhance heating. Using Taguchi experimental design (TED) and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), the effects of microwave power...

Lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) is considered as a sustainable feedstock for a biorefinery to generate biofuels and other bio-chemicals. However, commercialization is one of the challenges that limits cost-effective operation of conventional LCB biorefinery. This article highlights some studies on the sustainability of LCB in terms of cost-competitiv...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are a promising technology that uses microorganisms to simultaneously generate bioelectricity while treating wastewater. To further improve the performance of the MFC, it is essential to understand and evaluate the electron transfer mechanism. However, redesigning the electron transfer mechanism of MFCs through an experi...

The production of biochar, bio-oil, and biogas from sugarcane bagasse (SB) is investigated via catalytic microwave-assisted torrefaction where calcium oxide is employed as a microwave absorber. Using the Taguchi approach, three parameters of microwave power, holding time, and catalyst concentration are considered. The optimal combination of the thr...

Drying is an essential step needed to improve the extraction of lipids and other valuable compounds in the algae for biodiesel production. However, there is a limited amount of information available regarding its drying kinetics. Previous studies have used computational intelligence e.g., artificial neural networks (ANN) and deep neural networks (D...

Moisture content is an imperative indicator of biofuel lipid content in microalgae. This paper developed a reliable, computationally cost-effective combination of artificial neurons and an optimization tool for moisture content concentration prediction using computational intelligence. A total of 83 data of microalgae var. Chlorella vulgaris moistu...

Biofuel production serves as a viable alternative to conventional energy production systems which primarily relies on fossil fuels. Because of its increased protein and lipid accumulation properties, algal biomass has been deemed a feasible source for biofuel generation among the many types of biomass materials. Microalgal drying process, a prelimi...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are recognized as an efficient method to utilize biomass to generate power while simultaneously treats wastewater. Micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology enables miniaturization of the MFCs system. Miniaturized MFCs through MEMS strengthen the system’s reaction capacity that makes it suitable for environmental...

A serpentine tube heat exchanger is physically constrained by its bend radius. The U-tube bend section of a tubular heat exchanger is thus interesting broadly in terms of fluid flow and heat transfer. This paper presents the tube size dependence of heating profile of this U-tube as is commonly encountered in the design of pasteurizers. Analytical a...

The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a truly wicked problem which has remained a stubborn issue plaguing multiple countries worldwide. The continuously increasing number of infections and deaths has driven several countries to implement control and response strategies including community lockdowns, physical distancing, and travel bans w...

Torrefaction is a thermochemical process used to convert the biomass into solid fuel. In this study, torrefaction increased the raw microalgal biomass' energy content from 20.22 MJ⋅kg − 1 to 27.93 MJ⋅kg − 1. To determine if more energy is produced than energy consumption from torrefaction, this study identified the energy balance of torrefied micro...

As plastics have been omnipresent in society ever since their introduction in 1907, global plastic production has ballooned in the 20th century or the Plasticene Era (Plastic Age). After their useful life span, they deliberately or accidentally, are disposed of in the environment. Influenced by different factors, plastics undergo fragmentation into...

Robotics significantly impacts the way we live and work nowadays. It will positively and negatively disrupt every sector of our society, economy, and the industry. Robotics will definitely transform lives, work practices, raise efficiency and safety levels, improve the quality of service, and create new jobs. Its impact will grow over time as well...

Algal-based biofuels offer distinct advantages over other types of biofuels currently available within the fuel industry. However, one important disadvantage is that over their entire life cycle, they consume significant amounts of energy through cultivation, pretreatment, and production. Under pretreatment, drying is an energy-intensive yet highly...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are a newly emerging technology in bioenergy processing. This research is to replace the use of platinum catalysts. Three types of oxygen reduction catalysts (B12/XC-72, B12/CNT and B12/AC) are analyzed and compared with the other two activated sludge and no catalyst where the performance of activated carbon in MFCs are...

In drying seaweeds, it is important to describe its drying behavior using semi-theoretical models. Predicting the best drying model for the seaweed was commonly done by testing the goodness of the curve for seaweed drying models by calculating the coefficient of determination R ² , the reduced chi square X ² , root means square error (RMSE) and mea...

Micro hydro power is a renewable source of energy and is commonly utilized for remote communities for electricity generation. The sustainability of a micro hydro system can be evaluated based on initial capital cost and the overall power output. The ratio of the capital cost and the overall power output is the unit-cost. In this paper, site specifi...

The possible sources of the energy losses in the drying systems can occur in the drying chamber and solar collector. The energy from these parts were not properly utilized so it is evident to further search for improvements. Energy and exergy analyses were being used to identify the possible source of inefficiencies quantitatively and qualitatively...

Groundbreaking advancements have driven significant industries to adopt and take advantage of the key technologies in order to thrive in these adjustments coming from the Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIRe). However, with the threat of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causing catastrophic setback to the society and economy, scientific endeav...

A biorefinery is an efficient approach to generate multiple bio-products from biomass. With the increasing demand for bioenergy and bio-products, biorefineries are essential industrial platforms that provide needed demand while significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A biorefinery consists of various conversion technologies where particula...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) provide an efficient way to utilize energy from biomass while it offer advantages such as pollution avoidance, high energy conversion efficiency, and flexibility for a wide range of applications. MFCs have gained much attention and are considered as current research hotspot in bioenergy. To further improve the reaction a...

The development of biofuels has been considered as an important countermeasure to abate anthropogenic CO2 emissions, suppress deteriorated atmospheric greenhouse effect, and mitigate global warming. To produce biofuels from biomass, thermochemical conversion processes are considered as the most efficient routes wherein torrefaction has the lowest g...

Heavy metals in the effluents released from industrial establishments pose risks to the environment and society. Prevalent organisms such as microalgae in industrial wastes can thrive in this harmful environment. The connection of the metal-binding proteins of the microalgal cell wall to the metal ions of the heavy metals enables microalgae as an i...

Biorefineries provide a platform for different industries to produce multiple bio-products enhancing the economic value of the system. The production of these biorefineries has led to an increase in the generation of biowaste. To minimize the risk of environmental pollution, numerous studies have focused on a variety of strategies to mitigate these...

The transition of the energy source from fossil-fuel to renewables is currently the global focus. The world's concern about climate change considering the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission leads them to make policy initiates to accelerate the transitions to renewable energy sources. The intermittent renewable sources combined with Energy Storage System...

Artificial Intelligence has been considered as one of the disruptive technologies for the past years especially in the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). As researchers continue to unlock the potential of AI, the limits of what can be done with this technology is yet to be seen. As AI increases the productivity of companies such as t...

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) are considered as power generation devices for sustainable energy. However, the power generated is insignificant compared to other energy production devices. In this study, a mini autonomous biosensor (MAB) based on MFCs has been designed for detecting hazardous hexavalent chromium in wastewater. Hexavalent chromium has...

Microalgal biomass offers high biomass productivity, high photosynthetic efficiency, and low land requirement. However, there are challenges for the sustainable conversion of microalgae-to-biofuels. Through torrefaction, microalgal biomass can be upgraded to enhance its biomass characteristics. A life cycle assessment (LCA) is proposed to evaluate...

The development of renewable and clean energy has been the priority of the global research field due to the urgent effects of climate change. Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is recognized as a sustainable approach to simultaneously generate power and treat wastewater through the employment of microorganisms as catalyst. The use of buffer solution in the...