A system study on La Estrella Aquaponics

• Main Authors: Chua, Joshah Caleb P., Chua, Katherine Louise F.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2016
• Subjects: Aquaponics > Philippines; Industrial engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/5934
• Institution: De La Salle University

The system focused on La Estrella Aquaponics, which is one of the few known commercial practitioners of aquaponics in the Philippines. The scope of the study looks into the performance of the company and their activities or processes, these being production, maintenance, purchasing, and the selling of products. After proper documentation and evaluation of the companys practices and within the context of the stated objectives that is concerned with the production of the company, it was identified that most prevalent problem that is being experienced by the company is their lack of productivity in the utilization of their current system. This led to the groups problem statement of: The weekly produce deviates by 74 kilos (75.51%) for lettuce and 24 (24.49%) for kale from the weekly target of 120 kilos for lettuce and 40 for kale. The design of experiments (DOE) tool was used for the analysis of the data gathered for analysis. The analysis of the experiment in chapter 9 and 10 led to the findings that the deviation from the target production was caused by the underutilization of the tanks and the presence of algae in the system. Alternative set ups for the system were generated in order to address the productions deviation and various proposed systems were created for the company to select from. The corresponding profitability analyses were computed with regards to the multiple alternative set ups and their resulting yields. To address the underutilization of tanks, the group proposed a fixed level of 75% tank utilization, taking into account approximately 25,000 fishes per tank in order to provide the nutrient needed for the production of lettuce and kale. In order to tackle the issue of algae presence within the aquaponics system, the group concluded that a change in the media grow beds will minimize the said algae, and benefit the company though reducing cost from the purchasing of fast moving materials by an estimate 25% for expenses. The company has yet to review upon which of he said generated alternative set ups for the system was to be fully implemented to address the problem of the systems production deviation. The alternative set ups consist of 8 combinations, making use of 25 and 75% tank utilization, systems that contain algae or those that do not, and neither a production ratio of 50% lettuce and 50% kale or purely 100% production of lettuce.