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By Lyn V. Ramo
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Endemic to the Cordillera region is a species of a high- altitude tree that bears orange oil-bearing fruits that may be the region’s contribution to the country’s quest for alternative fuel.

The tree, according to Dr. Michael Bengwayan, grows in some places in the Cordillera mountain range, especially in foggy areas.

Bengwayan is the executive director of Pine Tree, a non-government organization working on ecological education, training, research and information here.

The Pine Tree embarked on a two-year study of the pittosporum resineferum, or resin cheesewood, now referred to in the study as petroleum nut.

Endemic

Bengwayan found the petroleum nut trees called apisang in Mount Pulag, Mount Sto. Tomas, Puguis in La Trinidad, and even in Tabaan Norte in Tuba, all in Benguet.

Four species are differentiated in the size of the fruits, which tend to be smaller in higher altitudes like the mossy forests of Mount Pulag in Bokod and Kabayan towns, and Mount Sto. Tomas in Baguio City.

Some species are also found in the Mountain Province, where people call it dail; and in Abra, where it is saga-saga to locals. The Ifugaos call it hanga.

In La Union, the trees may be found in Naguilian; while in Nueva Vizcaya these are in Cayapa, in the boundary with Benguet.

Its fruits are green when young and these mature into orange fleshy soft fruits that burst with little black seeds when it ripens. The flesh, when squeezed, gives out clear golden oil that easily burns when lighted with a match.

Its seeds, when left on the ground, do not germinate at once due to a gummy substance which suspends the germination.

“This challenged us to experiment on how to remove the gummy thing that covers some of the seeds,” Bengwayan said.

Bio-fuel

Oil from the petroleum nut may be used as cooking fuel, or for lighting in oil lamps, said Bengwayan. The nut contains higher carbon octane, which makes it more combustible than jatropha curcas, the bio-fuel source from India being promoted by the Philippine government and for which it has allotted some P125 million ($2,588,795).

Used in its pure form, the oil from Cordillera’s petroleum nut is highly combustible, and burns like a flame thrower, according to Bengwayan, as he cautioned a Pine Tree staff who was demonstrating how to set the oil aflame.

“The aim of the study is to introduce the plant for village use, and not for industrial and commercial purposes,” said Bengwayan. He said kerosene used for cooking and lighting in rural areas where there are no electricity now costs P48 ($0.99) per liter.

For cooking Bengwayan mixed one part kerosene and three parts afisal oil to obtain maximum efficiency. For lighting, it may be used in its pure form.

“We aim to use it for small and simple machines like coffee grinders and not for bigger machines or engines in vehicles, Bengwayan said.

To extract oil from the fruit, Bengwayan opts for a simple distillation method that entails less fuel. Boiling and manually squeezing the oil fruit are the most economical way, according to Bengwayan, adding that it defeats the purpose if the extraction uses electricity or fossil fuel.

After boiling the flesh for three to four hours, depending on the volume, oil is strained and left to settle for three to four days. The flesh may be dried to use as a flame inducer in firewood-fed stoves.

It makes a difference when farmers plant something that could reduce the use of fossil fuel that gives off carbon dioxide and at the same time sequesters carbon in the environment.

“It helps control global warming,” Bengwayan says of the petroleum nut.

Propagation

Bengwayan discourages the propagation by cuttings, because it will destroy the fruit-bearing cycle of the tree. Instead, he and his staff went through the tedious germination and propagation from seeds, which takes six months before the seedling could be transplanted.

Pine Tree has some 30,000 seedlings ready for dispersal to willing farmers, who may get free training on the propagation of the trees and extracting the oil. Some 23 farmers from Kibungan and Kapangan towns are the initial beneficiaries of the seedlings, disclosed Bengwayan.

Bengwayan looks forward to the day when rural households will have two or three petroleum nut trees providing them with oil for cooking and lighting; or perhaps enable them to sell some to their neighbors.

He said the tree needs only some five square-meters of land because it does not have a big crown. It bears fruits in four years then continuously thereafter.(Bulatlat.com)