PLANT VISIT AND SEMINAR 2017

One of the best and my favorite subject in our program Mechanical engineering here in
Technological Institute of the Philippines (Q.C.) is our Plant visit and seminars. I have been waiting to
take this subject since my early year in our school. And now as I take this subject, it excites me when I
think of the power plant we're going to visit and the learning we are going to have, and most of all, the
Engineers we are going to meet and the works we are going to encounter. This event will impart a huge
learning and will put a big part on my journey to be an Engineer in the near future. We never know if one
of this company will absorb and take anyone from us to be their engineer and be part of their team in
the future.

July 18, 2017 is the scheduled date for our first plant visit tour, departure time is 4:00am in
the morning. Almost none of us sleep or even take a short nap before the tour, everyone was excited and
full of energy. Buying all the foods they can bring so they won't get hungry while on the way to our first
destination. The first company we visited for me is just fine. Not that good and fun as we all expected,
but still we had a good time looking and learning the processes that power plant undergoes. The whole
company is not just one compound, it is a huge community like compound, you need a vehicle just to
visit every section of the company. For me, I feel boring and sleepy in that trip because, first, we are
standing inside the buss the whole trip in that company. van is not allowed to go inside so for us
students that are assign in that van, we are transferred for a while in the buss, but that buss is just
having the right amount of students to we have to stand in the middle just to squeeze in and see that
whole company. Secondly, in that company, we can visit every building and section but we are not
allowed to get off the bus and walk around to see everything. For me that first power plant we visited is
kind of boring.

The second company we have visited is the Aboitiz power plant. It is a power plant built
by an American name "Ernesto Aboitiz" who lived here and has his heart and mind to develop and make
the Philippines a better place. It is founded in the time of former president Ferdinand Marcos who
approved his project. Their motto is to have a clean energy and name it Cleanergy. When we arrived,
their staff and guard are all hospitable. They welcome us warmly and gladly. I feel like a VIP in their
company. They have conducted a seminar to explain to us how their geothermal power plant do their
work to produce electricity. They explained to us how it works. Geothermal power plants have much in
common with traditional power-generating stations. They use many of the same components, including
turbines, generators, transformers, and other standard power generating equipment. While there are
three types of geothermal power plants, Dry steam, Flash steam, Binary cycle. The cycle goes like this, A
production well is drilled into a known geothermal reservoir. Typically, an injection well is also drilled to
return used geothermal fluids to the geothermal reservoir. Hot geothermal fluids flow through pipes to a
power plant for use in generating electricity. Hot, pressurized geothermal fluid, or a secondary working
fluid, is allowed to expand rapidly and provide rotational or mechanical energy to turn the turbine blades
on a shaft. Rotational energy from the turning turbine shaft is used directly to spin magnets inside a
large coil and create electrical current. The turbine and generator are the primary pieces of equipment
used to convert geothermal energy to electrical energy. Electrical current from the generator is sent to a
step-up transformer outside the power plant. Voltage is increased in the transformer and electrical
current is transmitted over power lines to homes, buildings, and businesses. When I learned this process
I was amazed by its nature cycle. Using the earth's heat to generate power is just an amazing way to
produce electricity. So much talent and wisdom is put into that concept. I felt that I am nothing
compared to them who can light a whole city, My works cannot reach theirs, I have so much to study
before I can get to the shadows of their works and talents.

July 20, 2017 our second plant visit is different from the first company we have been to. This power plant
is having not that big like the first one, but it is still part of the aboitiz company. But this one is
unforgettable one, this power plant has a bad smell. I don't know if it comes from them or the factory
behind them, but they told us that the chemical they use is H2S (Hydrogen sulfide gas), a chemical that is
known for having a bad odor and smalls like a rotten egg. If the gas is now concentrated, the odor is
strong, but if the gas has build up and having a high concentration, the smell is lessen that you can't even
tell if that gas is present, and if you have inhaled a huge amount of it, it can cause you to pass out. For
me, the smell is one factor that pushes me not to work on that kind of power plant. But besides that foul
odor, the surroundings and the atmosphere or the work place is good and exciting for me.

The second power plant we have visited is much more exciting and fun to see. This power plant uses
sugar cane to produce electricity. The sugar cane they have can produce two kind of alcohol, one is for
beer making, and the other one is for the power plant purposes. That is why that power plant has many
beer and wine in them. After they have produce electricity from the alcohol they used, the wasted they
have can be used and be brought back to the farmers to create another set of sugar cane, their waste
can be a fertilizer for the sugar cane making. So the process continues and so on. That is the part where I
was amazed. They have created a near perfect cycle to produce electricity and to produce a crops and
sugar cane, and also to produce beer and wines. For me this power plant is the best one we have
encountered. I would say that I would like to work with them in the future if possible. Not because of the
beers, but because of the nature friendly process and cycle they have. For now, 2 days of plant visit has
given me so much to learn. I am looking forward for the third, fourth and fifth tour and plant visit we are
going to have.
 INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES

CONGRESO, JOHN ARBY E.

ME 503-ME51FB1-A17

ENGR. LORESCO