HYAZINC: THE ENERGY STORAGE OF THE FUTURE

Among 82 applicants and 13 industry experts, the University of Mindanao grasped the title of Grand Champions and the “Most Impactful Enterprise award” in Ready, Spark, Charge: Hacking the Future of Energy on December 12, 2022, an annual clean energy hackathon organized by New Energy Nexus Philippines with the goal of accelerating energy ventures, ideas, and technologies that address the Philippines’ energy challenges. Two other UM teams have advanced to the championship rounds. The winning project’s title is Fabrication of Flexible and Self-Healable Hydrogel Hybrid Supercapacitor crosslinked by Eich - hornia crassipes (Water Hyacinth)

Cellulose Nanocrystals, and the team’s start-up project is known as HyaZinc. For energy storage, lithium-ion batteries were used in approximately 90% of batteries. Furthermore, the main components of batteries, lithium-ion, and cobalt, may not be able to meet future demand. As a result, there is a need to develop an alternative storage device that can reduce battery waste while also utilizing sustainable materials. Thus, the Hyazinc team devised a solution. The team used a water hyacinth to make a supercapacitor. A supercapacitor with water hyacinth as one of its components for owners of backup charging

By Justine Miralles

devices who want to charge their power banks faster and increase their capacity and service life, resulting in improved power bank quality compared to commercially available energy storage used in backup charging devices.

Stephanie Pondias, Sheira Torralba, Mary Joy Ignacio from the College of Engineering Education, and Joanna Castillo from the College of Business Administration Education comprise the winning team and were also assisted by the UMasenso Hub and participated in the Energy Entrepreneurship Program in collaboration with the New Energy Nexus - Philippines. Their respective advisers and consultants are Engr. Vanesa Balayo (UMasenso Hub),

Engr. Mr. Francis Yap (UM-ITSO), Mr. Mark Angelou M. Siega (CGNIES), and Mr. Clyde Valdez (CBAE).

“Honestly, we didn’t really expect that our project would go this far because our main goal was just to pass our thesis paper, but we also didn’t really expect that our thesis paper would turn into a business project. It was such a wonderful blessing because we come up with this innovative project that would be good for the environment and for the future,” said Ms. Stephanie Mae Pondias.

“And of course, this winning start-up project would not be possible without the help of our advisers and consultants; especially Mr. Siega and Engr. Van encouraged us and help improve our paper. Though we also feel pressured to the outcome of our project because we are not dealing solely with science but also with the business overall we are thankful to the New Energy NexusPhilippines for such a great opportunity,” added Ms. Mary Joy Ignacio.

Furthermore, Team HyaZinc demonstrated and proved that UMian is equipped with the right resources, knowledge, and network to innovate, develop and scale up one’s startup ideas. And with their project, they are considered entrepreneurs who were driven by the passion to foster change and create an impact in our community.