THE Philippine Sugar Technologists Association (Philsutech) resumed the conduct of its short-term mid-year technical courses to upgrade the knowledge of stakeholders in sugar industry technology.
First to be conducted this March is the Applied Technology on Bioenergy and Environmental Management (Atbem), which will be conducted virtually every Friday, starting March 12 (11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.) until March 26.
This seminar is under the Bioenergy & Environmental Management Division, spearheaded by vice president and director Damaso T. Agudelo Jr. and Dir. Sherryl Ann R. Jarder, assisted by the Philsutech Secretariat headed by Haydee V. Rivera.
The March 12 session will tackle "Optimization & Troubleshooting of Fermentation Operation," with Prasanna Tamhamkar of Indian company Catalyst Bio Technologies as resource speaker.
On March 19, two sessions will be conducted. The first session will feature Engr. Susan C. Benitez, senior vice-president for Operations of Asian Alcohol, who will discuss "Bioethanol Industry in the Philippines," while the second session will be conducted with URC Distillery Environment, Health & Safety Manager Adrian U. Guylan discussing "Updates: Basic Permits, Licenses, Certificates and Reportorial Requirements to Government of Distillery Plants."
The culminating session on March 26 will talk about "Boiler Operation," with Engr. Kush Verma as resource speaker.
Verma is a Commissioning Engineer of Thermax, an India-based engineering company with more than 50 years of experience in energy and environment projects.
Other than the Atbem seminar, Philsutech also scheduled the "Applied Technology in Sugar Process (ATSP)" course in April, to be followed in the next months by the course on "Applied Technology on Energy Utilization and Management (Atemu)."
Further details on the ATSP and Atemu courses will be announced later.
One of Philsutech's primary goals is to provide its members with continuing education in sugar technology, particularly in the fields of Bioenergy and Environmental Management, Process, Factory Engineering, Agriculture and Farm Engineering, and Management.
The annual farm tour was cancelled due to Covid travel restrictions, while the seminar under the Management Division is yet to be finalized.
Last year, the technical seminars, including the much-awaited annual national convention, were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
With the improvement in government and private sector responses to the crisis this year, Philsutech decided to continue with the mid-year training and convention in a hybrid format. (PR)